Just a month after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out, the world acts as if the USSR is back, and I find that alarming.
The long lines of Russians trying to get scarce goods, the isolation of Russia from the international community, and the division of the world into friends and enemies, never left anything good. They only brought more paranoia and repression of dissent.
While on the other hand, the deployment of new NATO battalions in Eastern countries tells us that an organization created during the times of the Soviet Union has remembered its reason for being, in a world that seems to be more focused on war than in peace. The latter becoming a cause for alarm, when there is a risk that a nuclear conflict could break out.
It seems that we are back in 1962.
Thus the return of the USSR and all its ghosts.
Russia will hardly reintegrate into the world. Vladimir Putin has made it very clear that he has lost confidence in the Western world and has pointed out the Russian “neoliberals” as traitors, in their eagerness to divide the population to win. All this while ordinary citizens run to the markets so as not to run out of sugar and wheat flour, as in the times of the USSR, and buy tampons, detergents, clothes, and toothpaste with prices that have gone by the heavens Because supply chains have been disrupted, and there is no telling how long they can be counted on.
The same happens in the case of medicines. Some surveys indicate that there are 80 medicines that Russian doctors lack in pharmacies. Including insulin and anti-inflammatories for children. To which we must add the 20% inflation that is calculated for this year, and that will do nothing more than translate into poverty and despair.
The Russians did not have time to save for this crisis.
Hence, many, beginning to see no future in their country, have decided to flee at a speed not seen since the Soviet era to countries like Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, which do not ask for a visa and above all it is still possible to arrive, now that Russian airlines are barred from entering most Western airspace.
Those lucky enough to have Schengen visas rushed west by train or road, and as escape routes from the country shrink and the cost of flights rise, social media channels with tips on “Russia emigration to the free world,” they flourish.
Finally, on the other side of the “iron curtain” the month of this conflict will be commemorated with Biden’s trip to Europe and the emergency summits in Brussels of NATO, the European Union and the G7, which will focus on demonstrations of cooperation to punish Russia and provide support to Ukraine, in which new sanctions will most likely be announced, including those on hundreds of Russians serving in the country’s lower legislative body, as well as measures to cut off their oil and gas profits. At a time when Putin announced that he will only accept payment in rubles.
Welcome to the echo of another time.
Last one out turn off the light.
Twitter: @HenaroStephanie
Geopolitics teacher
Last one out turn off the light
Mexican analyst and commentator. She studied international relations at the Tecnológico de Monterrey CCM and at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris (Sciences-Po). She has a specialization in Russian foreign policy from MGIMO in Moscow and a master’s degree in Geopolitics, Territory and Security from King’s College London in England.