The moderator’s opening question was small: how should Russia respond to President Zelensky’s latest proposal to Russia of agreeing a truce on attacks against civilian ships. This followed Ukraine’s latest daring drone strike on the major Russian port of Novorossiisk in the northeastern coast of the Black Sea. As you will find when you listen to this podcast, I was keen to place the latest breaking news in a broad context to make sense of it.
In the broadest context, what is now happening in the Russia-Ukraine war and the world’s reaction to these developments suggest that the world has gone mad.
Three years ago when the Russians cut off Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea there was worldwide condemnation over the threat this posed to the food security of Africa and other regions that were dependent on Ukrainian supplies. UN Secretary General Gutteres intervened, Turkish prime minister Erdogan also stepped forward to assist with negotiations between the parties that eventually put a truce into effect. Now, however, the Russian destruction of grain export facilities in the leading port of Odessa and their effective blockade of other Black Sea ports of Ukraine have not elicited a peep from the international community. Similarly, today’s Ukrainian attack on grain terminals in Novorossiisk hardly was mentioned in our mainstream media. And Russia is a far greater global exporter than Ukraine.
Perhaps this indifference to the consequences of curtailed global grain supplies comes as a result of the collapse of moral values precipitated by the Israeli genocide in Gaza about which the Collective West has no concerns. Perhaps it is linked to the severe pressure being put on agricultural production globally by the cut-off of fertilizer supplies and great shortage of diesel fuel used by farmers as a result of the closing of the Strait of Hormuz linked to the Iran-US/Israeli war. Whichever factor is uppermost, the new dimension of total economic war between Russia and Ukraine is a global tragedy.
Moving on from this big picture presentation, I say in this interview that Zelensky’s proposal must now be utterly unacceptable to the Russians. After all, the war on commercial shipping in the Black Sea is not a self-standing issue. It is the Russian counter-move to the Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure, export installations and shadow fleet tankers. From the Russian standpoint, those attacks must also stop entirely for there to be any consideration of a truce on commercial shipping in the Black Sea, meaning freeing Ukraine’s grain export channels.
Let there be no misunderstanding. The Ukrainian attack on Novorossiisk represents a very serious escalation in the economic war. News X World tells us that Moscow is now re-routing grain exports to the Baltic Sea, to its Far East ports and to overland shipment. However, none of these alternatives is as efficient and cheap as what Ukraine is now destroying in Novorossiisk.
I conclude this brief note by remarking that the attack on Novorossiisk was surely enabled by NATO, in terms of military hardware and programming. For President Putin not to respond forcefully against both Kiev and the instigators of this escalation in Europe will be to further compromise Russia’s deterrence.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2026
I agree: The world has gone mad. All governments who might speak out again what is happening in the Ukraine-Russian conflict and especially in West Asia ... they have all gone mute.
Massive massacres no longer matter. Absolutely disgusting!
The disastrous outcome of these wars (Ukraine, Iran) for the World was delayed for reasons, which were not foreseen. To put it in simple terms, I have a feeling that Trump now believes something like 'Gee this was not as bad as I was told it would be, so I guess I don't have to surrender'.
If the famines begin, and there is chaos, vast movements of people, and conflicts, he might reconsider, but it will probably be too late.
Europe is going to have a very bad time, perhaps Russia and China as well, as streams of hungry people in the millions try to force their way into the developed countries. Militaries may actually need to fulfill their actual function and defend borders. We could see mass killing of desperate people ... not a pleasant thought.