EU History 101: Putin ‘Stealing’ Ukraine Grain

50 yrs ago I learned in UIC’s “European History 101” that USSR always coveted Ukraine’s rich grain fields feeding the entire empire, so who besides Joe’s surprised “Russia Is Using a Secret Network to Steal Ukraine Grain”?

As I noted in early posted stories, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was not only about gaining better access to the seas, but also likely very much about those wheat fields staring him in the face after the break-up of the Soviet Union. While the WSJ says “Russian officials have rejected accusations that the country is stealing grain from Ukraine,” its investigation “reveals a secretive smuggling network.” Only, is it so secret? Or, is the Biden Administration seemingly the only ones not expecting, let alone seeing, it without a WSJ “investigation”?

The WSJ alludes to how Putin has during his invasion “institutionalized” the theft of “hundreds of thousands of metric tons … out of newly occupied areas of Ukraine and into Russian-allied countries in the Middle East.” Natch. How about some going to Moscow, too? Any of us UIC students attending that history class could have predicted the larcency in granular detail 5 decades ago.

Davd Soul