Analysis: Putin’s War and Beyond

The war in Ukraine goes painfully on. After 4 months, the Russians show slow gains and have taken much of the Donbas, E Ukraine. In fact, if we count Crimea and the land along the south coast as well, Russia has grabbed almost 20% of Ukraine's land, and most of it is the most valuable, including where the wheat is grown. The south coast, which involves Mariupol, is vital as the sea outlet to the country and it is being blockaded by the Russians.
In the past few days, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, S Africa) have been meeting in China, hosted by Xi Jinping. The BRICS countries, total 40% of the world population and 20% of the world's GDP, so they are a formidable bloc and forecast to become bigger and stronger. Currently, China and India are absorbing much of the oil and gas embargoed by the western powers so Russia is partially getting around that important component of the total block on trade. Perhaps that is why Vladimir Putin, along with his gains in the Donbas region, feels emboldened and having discussions with the Belorussian president, Alexander Lukashenko.
We can see Putin's forces now beginning to gather and send missiles to Kyiv and places in between. The meeting with the Belorussian President could mean the opening of a new front having a focus on Kyiv. If Kyiv falls then that will be the beginning of the end for Ukraine and the situation is serious and a setback for the western alliance, who say, however, that this will not be allowed to happen.
The G7 group of countries, which are the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, have just had a meeting in Germany to discuss Ukraine and the effect the war has on the global economy, cost of living. Most of those countries...