As it is often stated, all wars must eventually end, and that is also valid for the Ukraine war. War fatigue is now clearly observable in Ukraine and among some of Ukraine’s Western backers, despite repeated insistence on continuing ‘as long as it takes’. There has up to now been a tacit agreement within NATO not to discuss the option of a negotiated peace openly, so the mantra is still that Putin is the new Hitler and anything but a Russian defeat is unacceptable. But rumours are that discussions are now ongoing in the corridors.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelensky, has taken advantage of the state of emergency in the country to concentrate all powers in his hands, including deciding how the war shall be conducted. Before winning the elections in 2019 he was an actor (and comedian). Perhaps this is why he is so obsessed with the media, and this may explain his many weird, and apparently self-defeating, decisions. Striving for short-term media successes when leading a country in war, does not bother well.

According to the neoliberal, globalist dogma, dominating the world since the roaring nineties, immigration is a win-win situation as people move from low-paid jobs in the developing countries to more productive and higher paid jobs in the developed countries. Everybody wins, right? Not so. The losers are the low-skilled workers in the developed countries, which creates resentment and political radicalisation, and it is no recipe for development in the developing countries. Solution? Move the jobs, not the people.

NATO has a deal with the Ukrainian government: ‘we provide money and weapons, and you provide the soldiers’. The Ukrainian government is now using increasingly harsh and violent methods to capture its unwilling citizens and send them to an almost secure death in the trenches. This effort is applauded by the NATO countries. The politicians, right and left, couldn’t care less about the fate of the Ukrainian men who against their will are sent to the killing fields. This is a necessary sacrifice for the good cause.

When developing countries try to catch up with the developed countries, there are many challenges. Will they be allowed to protect the new industries, they are trying to set up? Can they get funding for the huge investments needed? Can they get their economic policy right? It is not easy, but history tells us that it is not impossible.