Harold Macmillan, the British Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963, when asked what was a statesman’s greatest challenge, famously replied: “Events, dear boy, events.” No doubt he was casting his mind back to the Suez crisis that led to the resignation of his predecessor, Anthony Eden, only a year earlier. In sum, stuff happens.Many things are at stake when world events occur: the lives and livelihoods of nations near and far are touched, particularly those least able to alter the course of events.And so, soon and very soon the Mottley administration will have to respond more cogently to the events in Ukraine. For like it or not, the Russo-Ukrainian conflict is even more of a Third World War, given the intricate intertwining of relationships in a globalised world.It is said that several times a year, a cargo liner operated by the Russian-based Volga-Dnepr Airline - the Aeroflot of air freighting - stops here to refuel for its Transatlantic voyage from Latin America back to Europe. We gather that it pays actual US cash - so the Barbadian economy is not immune to its dealings with an economy that is propping up a brutal and merciless war. It’s complicated this global geopolitics thing; not as malleable as clever rhetorical flourishes at global conferences or in front of television screens.
