Writing in Inside Business Opinion in the Financial Times on March 14, Patrick Jenkins shows that some people in finance seem to be becoming aware of the harm they are doing themselves. The world should “brace for a global financial and economic shock,” Jenkins advises in “Fall of Lehman Shows How Unpredictable Impact of Russian Sanctions Could Be.”
“Punishing Putin for his barbaric acts in Ukraine through stiff sanctions—on Russian companies, oligarchs and energy exports—is necessary and more than justified on moral grounds,"Jenkins argues. Of course, “There is some recognition that there will be blowback for the rest of the world—higher petrol prices, for example, and further inflation in domestic energy costs.
“But I am not sure the potential impact for the world outside Russia has been fully acknowledged. Most obviously, of course, it could provoke further military aggression from Putin. But other financial and economic consequences certainly stretch far beyond the petrol pump. The spiraling cost of wheat, grain, nickel and a host of other commodities is threatening the affordability of everything from daily bread to climate disaster mitigation.”