SIMPLY PUT: What we can learn from a war

Politicians delivering speeches. Soldiers going to the frontlines to die. Families mourning. Markets crashing. Cities getting bombed and civilians getting killed, as “netizens” make world war-III memes. The obvious pictures that come to the fore, as history repeats.


When scrolling through social media, sometimes, it may seem like many people are numb to the pain that a war can cause. So, we decided to put the spotlight on some of the consequences that may hit the right spot of the warmongers sitting afar.

For others, it may give a sense how to prepare for the day when bombs rain from the sky.

First up, no internet and patchy phone lines. Just letting your loved ones know that you are alive will be a task. Maybe, train a pigeon to carry notes.

Then, no home deliveries. Slash that! Just not enough food. Stores get shut, supplies don’t arrive and prices shoot up for everything from crude oil and fuel to edible oil and, even, the humble bread.

In the ongoing war, this has been true, not just for the country that was invaded, for a large part of the world ⁠— even those that are not part of the war right now ⁠— because Ukraine is called the ‘breadbasket of Europe’.

As Kyiv went into curfew from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m, there were long queues in front of grocery stores and ATMs.

Expect panic and prejudice all around. And no money.

Students from India who were in Ukraine at this inopportune moment learnt it the hard way. Even those who had money in the accounts ⁠— or a family member had transferred it ⁠— couldn’t access it.
As they hitched a ride and/or walked miles to get to the closest border, aside from hunger and anxiety, they were attacked by angry locals. India did not condemn Russia for the attack ⁠— and the Indian government had its reasons ⁠for it — and many students, as they ran for their lives, faced the wrath of the civilians.


If that’s the story of the place that’s being attacked, things are not much better even for the invader.

FIFA and UEFA banned all Russian clubs and national teams from competing on the international stage. But that’s the least of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s problems.

Russia needs money to fund the war, but it has been cut off from the global financial markets. Russia has doubled its key interest rate to 20% from 9.5%, but even if someone would like to send money back to the banks in Moscow, they can’t, because the international banking system won’t allow the money to pass.

The value of the Russian currency fell over 40% making stuff more expensive even for Russians.

As the iconic science fiction author HG Wells wrote in the famous book, ‘The War of the Worlds’: “If we don't end war, war will end us.”

Due to the global sanctions, Russia would not have found buyers for things that it can sell, like crude oil and wheat. But China has decided to pick them up for a bargain and how cheap it’s gonna be will depend on how desperate the sellers in Russia are.

That’s not the only one. These are all the ways China benefits from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Take a look.


More on what the war-torn markets could look like a few weeks from now. Aashish Somaiyaa of White Oak Capital Management says that private banks and financial stocks in India have severely underperformed in recent months, and it has nothing to do with their own fundamentals. So they might be the first to bounce back if and when the crisis subsides. You can listen to the entire Twitter spaces session hosted by Stocktwits and Business Insider here.