Russia's attempt to starve other countries

 Jazz Shaw:

With recent Russian advances in the Donbas region, many are becoming worried that Russia might actually be able to continue grinding on until they “win” Putin’s war and permanently annex more Ukrainian territory. But the other pressing matter that’s growing more urgent by the week is the blockade of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural produce, preventing the food from reaching the world market. This is being done by design, no matter what Vladimir Putin may say about it in public. Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and much of sub-Saharan Africa are already experiencing food emergencies. If this situation continues, it will prompt a fresh wave of migrants heading north to escape starvation. This will further destabilize the situation around the Mediterranean and across much of Europe, all to Russia’s benefit.

At the New York Post, Dalibor Rohac argues that there is a path out of this situation that could be implemented fairly quickly and potentially end Russia’s invasion once and for all. But it would require some specific, ramped-up help for Ukraine’s military and some bold action by the United States and NATO starting almost immediately. Rohac points out that the Ukrainians are quite capable of taking out Russian naval vessels if given the right sort of missiles and the support of American intelligence analysts. They already demonstrated this with the sinking of the Russian flagship Moskva. Given better missiles and a bit of training, Ukraine could effectively eliminate Russia’s Black Sea fleet. At the same time, having American and NATO naval units act as escorts to supply ships bringing Ukrainian grain overseas could stave off attacks by any remaining Russian warships in the region.

First and foremost, as the sinking of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship, Moskva, illustrates, Ukrainians are perfectly capable of pushing back themselves if provided with the right equipment. Moskva was hit by a Ukrainian-made Neptune missile. With US intelligence and with higher-precision and longer-distance missiles, such as Danish Harpoons, Ukraine would be in a position to significantly cripple if not destroy the entire Black Sea Fleet.

The hesitancy to provide Ukrainians with such tools is completely misplaced. If anything, an even bolder step might be needed to end the blockage. A US-led naval coalition should assist with the demining of Odesa and escorting Ukrainian grain shipments out of Ukrainian ports. The United States undertook a similar task in the war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, when the US Navy accompanied Kuwaiti tankers out of the Persian Gulf, effectively deterring Iran from attacking.

This probably sounds like a far more aggressive stance than Joe Biden has taken thus far, but it certainly seems doable. With our help, the seas around Odessa could be cleared of mines fairly quickly. Danish harpoon missiles would allow the Ukrainians to begin damaging or simply sinking the Russian Black Sea fleet. If the blockade can be ended, the food crisis is significantly lessened and the Ukrainian position becomes stronger.

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It should be in the interest of most of the world to see the Russians lose their war with Ukraine.  It is one that never made any sense, to begin with.  Destroying the Russian Black Sea ships would be a good start.