Last Mukwende
The U.S and the European Union (EU) have put in place sanctions to many countries in the world for different reasons, all in the name of “priority to protect” tactic which they have made many nations to believe that really there are there to protect.
The truth of the matter is that all those under the U.S and EU imposed sanctions have just differed in the ideology which analysts have termed an ideological warfare between extreme capitalism and reformed scientific socialism and the socialists have been given the tag that they are human rights abusers and dictators.
The naked truth is that sanctions have crippled many economies and placed the lives of innocent people at stake because of selfish gains by these detractors.
The recent and fresh disaster caused by these sanctions is the skyrocketing of both oil and gas prices due to the embargo imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict. Price increase of these commodities on the global market has forced the markets to respond negatively with a potential to cause a global economic recession.
The global impact of sanctions on Russia has left the world with high costs of oil and the market has responded with a sharp increase on the fuel and gas prices. Zimbabwe’s fuel prices have gone up from US$1.43 to US$1.68, with an expectation of further increase.
The U.S has roped in Venezuela to counter the oil crisis, with the Western power willing to relax sanctions it had imposed on Venezuela. Venezuela is one of the largest oil producers in the world and the U.S had sanctioned Venezuela over alleged human rights violations resulting in the freezing of its oil markets in Europe.
The Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) commodity analyst, Giovanni STAUNOVO, said a prolonged war could take the price above that record, (the all-time high is $147.50, set in July 2008) and some analysts think it could go higher to $150 or more. Analysts at the Bank of America said that if most of Russia’s oil exports were cut off, the resulting 5m bpd shortfall could push prices as high as $200. A huge increase in the cost of everything from petrol at the pumps to any goods transported by road, adding to sky-high inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.
If oil gets so expensive that people cannot afford it, they stop buying and that most likely means measures such as industrial shutdowns, causing a significant downturn in economic activity and, very probably, global economic recession. This has exposed how the U.S uses sanctions to achieve its desired goal regardless of the impacts those sanctions have on the globe and ordinary people.
