The world, which has just overcome the corona epidemic, is constantly going through one conflict and chaos one after another. At the beginning of this year, the Russia-Ukraine war added a new dimension. The whole world is feeling its effect. Putin’s special military operations, the US sanctions game and Sri Lanka in an economic crisis unprecedented in Asia, all nine months of the year have been spent in tension. People from different parts of the world have no possibility of getting rid of it immediately.
The war in the West has put further pressure on the global economy before it can cope with the shock it has caused to the global economy. As one of the world’s largest grain exporters, Ukraine’s grain is not exported globally, leading to food shortages and unbridled food prices in several countries. The energy crisis has also intensified.
The Western alliance’s unprecedented sanctions against Russia, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas exporters, have sent fuel prices hitting record highs. Inflation has increased in almost every country including Europe. People have also taken to the streets in several countries to protest against the increase in the prices of fuel and food products.
Along with the economic crisis in South Asia, there is also a political crisis. The Indian Ocean island nation of Sri Lanka has witnessed an unprecedented economic crisis the country has never seen before. The brutality of the Rajapakse family, which has been in power for decades, has brought a brutal end to the country’s common people. A political crisis has emerged in Pakistan due to which cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan has to leave after losing a no-confidence vote. After the political crisis, there have been terrible floods in the country.
Analysts say, as a result, Pakistan has gone back at least 50 years. Add to that the image of Pakistan’s neighbor Afghanistan. The Taliban government has come back to power in the country. Since coming to power, they have been changing all the existing rules and regulations one by one. Millions of people have left the country because of their fear. Women have lost their freedom. In recent times, the country has seen several natural disasters like earthquakes and floods. More than a thousand people have died.
Myanmar, one of Bangladesh’s neighbors, has been in dire straits since last year. The junta government came to power after ousting the country’s former Prime Minister Aung Sang Suu Kyi on allegations of election rigging. After coming to power, the junta started committing atrocities one after another. The international media and human rights organizations have reported many incidents such as the burning of village after village in Myanmar, the killing of numerous civilians, including women and children.
Regional resistance groups have already become quite active within the country. Every day news of their clash with the junta government is coming in the media. Recently, mortar shells fired by Myanmar have also arrived in the Bangladesh border area. There have even been incidents of Rohingyas being killed by Myanmar’s shelling in the border areas.
On the other hand, the provocation of the United States has created tension between China and Taiwan. China has increased military exercises in the South Sea region around the visit of US House of Representative Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, firing several missiles. The situation was almost on the brink of war.
North Korea has also increased its missile launches in recent times. After launching the missile for the fourth time in the last one week, it fired again for the fifth time on Tuesday. For the first time, the country has fired a missile over the territory of Japan. South Korea and the United States have increased both military exercises and strength. In response, the United States and South Korea jointly fired missiles on Wednesday. But that missile crashed in the sky. Panic spread around. However, the military claimed that there were no casualties. They later apologized for this.
In addition, a different type of protest has appeared in the Middle Eastern country of Iran recently. Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested in Tehran for showing her hair after wearing a hijab, died while in the custody of the country’s policy police. This started the protest. Later it turned into a bloody conflict. Among them, the country’s supreme leader Khamenei said, behind this is the fuel of the United States and Israel.
However, various crises have arisen in the world around the Ukraine-Russia war. It is also affecting geopolitics. At the same time, the wheel of the world economy seems to be turning in the opposite direction. Analysts fear that if the situation continues like this, the next year may see a global recession. In the trap of polarization, the economic condition of the less and middle developed countries is gradually going towards a deplorable level.
(06 October/DM)