CGL Statement on Ukraine

Looked at through a governance lens, the invasion of the Ukraine signals a dangerous form of internal political failure to look after the interests of ordinary Russians. This war is little more than one man’s kleptocratic vanity project.

Not only have precious lives been lost on both sides of the conflict, but Russia’s present and future has been stolen through the private capture and expatriation of wealth that should have been used to create a sustainable economy.

Pretending that this is a culture war to uphold family values while slaughtering families is a form of deception in the nature of distraction technique. It can only delay the emergence within Russia of a 21st Century value system that respects human life and enables economies to become sustainable for younger and future generations.

Warding off economic collapse by appropriating the economies of neighbouring countries is a recipe for stifling the target economy and employing a dangerous logic that can only expand and perpetuate conflict globally.

Two disturbing conclusions might be drawn from this. First, there are serious deficiencies in any political system that allows power to become so concentrated that the whims of one individual are permitted to produce destruction and suffering on such a grand scale.

Second, it points to deficiencies in our system of international governance when there are no virtually governance norms to guide societies that wish to become more humane, productive and sustainable. Human rights and humanitarian laws sanction the most extreme effects of poor governance while remaining silent on practical pathways to good governance.

However, other corrective forces may eventually prevail. Societies built on butchery, fear and illusion cannot avoid eventual political and economic collapse. Ingenuity and internal motivation are not the by-products of cruelty and fear.

A common feature among all aspiring dictatorships is that they are willing to harm people to protect their systems of wealth capture.

The greatest challenge to dictators is comparisons with societies where citizens don’t live in fear and at the same time enjoy higher standards of living.

The people of Ukraine have the opportunity to choose between building a humane and economically productive society or succumb to brutality and bankruptcy.

It is clear what they prefer. It is just a matter of time before Russian citizens wake up from a propaganda-induced dream and make their own choices. In the meantime, there will be extreme and avoidable suffering in the Ukraine, in Russia and across the globe.

All for one man’s kleptocratic vanity project that represents a catastrophic failure of human self-organisation. Perhaps it is time for us all to wake up from the dream that our state of governance is ‘good enough’.