We, in the developing world, find ourselves confronted with serious issues of global warming, limited access to healthcare systems and other essential services, and great economic uncertainty – unemployment, underemployment, inflation, food shortages, shortages of goods and supplies, and much more.
In recent days, the Federal Reserves in the US and authorities in some leading companies have expressed fear and concern that we might be confronted with yet another global recession. This concern is already realised in some countries unable to service their debt obligations – Sri Lanka, for example. More and more countries are likely to find themselves in this predicament as the Russia-Ukraine war continues.
There are no real winners in war, as casualties – human, economic, and political – mount on all sides. That being said, major countries in the western world seem to have justified their reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
When the Berlin wall came down on November 9, 1989, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was dissolved, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the industrialised West gave Russia every assurance that NATO would not expand into the former USSR countries. Since that promise was given, a number of the former USSR countries have formed part of NATO. The forward march by NATO continues to surround Russia and now courts its closest neighbour – Ukraine – which shares a common border with Russia.
The rapid and aggressive advancement of NATO into the former USSR countries presents an obvious or perceived threat to Russia’s sovereignty and stability, a threat which Russia’s leaders seem determined to eliminate. Is might, right?
Unfortunately, self-serving political and territorial games that industrialised countries play, often result in major socio-economic turmoil for the rest of the developing world and, certainly, for Anguilla.
Here we are – a developing small-island-state with limited or no bargaining power – greatly impacted by the economic fall-out of yet another political and military manoeuvre by “the world’s might”.
Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine is now exacerbating the already record inflation by driving up prices on food and oil. As this crisis drags on, it will not only affect the price of food and fuel, but also the accessibility of essential goods and products, including building materials. This will impact the final cost of imported and locally manufactured or produced goods as well – in essence, imposing price hikes on practically everything that we consume and every service that we access. Is might, right?
The sociological fall-out also dictates that our government, civic, and spiritual leaders step up to their responsibility to settle the fears and anxieties of our people – to help them to understand that the world is going through a difficult period, and to provide meaningful assistance in the short term and hope for sustainable relief.
If there is ever a time that we – as a country – needed to seriously look at becoming self-reliant and self-sustaining, that time is now.
We saw major economic contraction resulting from the global recession in 2008. This brought us, as a small-island-state, close to the verge of economic collapse. We experienced the devastation of Hurricane Irma in 2017 which left us again, extremely vulnerable because our Tourism Industry was interrupted. We are slowly emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019 which collapsed our economy and caused much fear among us – fear that we would be isolated and cut-off from outside assistance, fear that we could be overrun by the virus and fear that our fate could be certain death.
It is important then, that we look at how we can become more self-reliant and sustainable, especially in our energy and food demand. It is equally important that we look at how we can become a more efficient system overall – both in the public and private sectors.
The self-serving political and territorial games that industrialised countries play should cause us – individually and collectively – to be more conservative in our living, and to actively promote a governance culture of efficiency, reliability, and sustainability because might isn’t right. But, what choice do we have in the matter, really?
