All too often, one hears claims that, in the long run, Russia will win over Ukraine because it has a much larger economy and population. Historically, that is a flawed conclusion. Historical precedence suggests that Ukraine is more likely to win, so let’s take a look at the reasons why.

Motivation

This is the most important factor in a war. Ukrainians know why they are fighting. They are defending their nation's existence. If they stop fighting, Ukraine will cease to exist as an independent state.

Russians, by contrast, don't really know why they are fighting. Most seem to fight for fear of being killed by their own, while their families are supposed to be richly paid if they die.

Other reasons are…

[2023 is the 90^th anniversary of one of history’s greatest acts of evil.  The definitive book to read is Robert Conquest’s The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine.]

People across Ukraine and around the world are lighting candles this month in memory of the millions of Ukrainians killed in the artificial famine engineered by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s regime in the 1930s.

Known to history as the Holodomor, this man-made famine remained hidden in the Soviet shadows for decades.

In recent years, a growing number of countries have finally recognized the famine as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation, but despite this growing international awareness, many have yet to grasp the chilling continuity between Stalin’s attempt to erase Ukraine and the genocidal objectives of today’s Russian invasion.

For Israel, it had to be good news to learn that Geert Wilders, the supposedly wild and crazy Dutch version of Donald Trump, came in with a huge parliamentary victory in the Netherlands and now may become the country's next prime minister.

That's because Wilders is a ferocious advocate and ally for Israel.  He’s got company.  All of the proto-Trump leaders now emerging in the world today are indeed nationalists, America-firsters, or fill-in-the native country first, make one's country its best, in spirit.

How is it every nationalist out there emerging in public life can all be so pro-Israel?  There couldn’t be a better reason.

The global economy, and more importantly, the entire world as we know it, is about to undergo a seismic shift toward freedom. Here is why I believe this to be, how it will happen, and why I think this week may have marked step one of a long journey in the right direction.

By now you know that Javier Milei, an outspoken and eccentric libertarian, has won Argentina's presidency after promising to aggressively tackle inflation, shutter the country’s central bank, end woke culture and significantly reduce government.

Most important and least mentioned this week is that under the wild exterior, Milei has it where it counts: he has two masters degrees and has “been a professor of macroeconomics, economics of growth, microeconomics, and mathematics for economists” with specializations in economic growth.

In other words, the “bold” financial ideas aren’t just bluster. Beyond Milei’s outspoken demeanor and explosive personality, something far more meaningful is taking place under the surface. Argentina is the first of many dominoes that will fall, leading the world toward a new “Great Reset”—one that prioritizes liberty and freedom instead of big governments and collectivism.

In a historic turn, China’s rise as an economic superpower is reversing. The biggest global story of the past half century may be over.

After stagnating under Mao Zedong in the 1960s and 70s, China opened to the world in the 1980s — and took off in subsequent decades. Its share of the global economy rose nearly tenfold from below 2 per cent in 1990 to 18.4 per cent in 2021. No nation had ever risen so far, so fast.

Then the reversal began. China’s decline could reorder the world. Since the 1990s, the country’s share of global GDP grew mainly at the expense of Europe and Japan, which have seen their shares hold more or less steady over the past two years. The gap left by China has been filled mainly by the US and by other emerging nations.

To put this in perspective, the world economy is expected to grow by $8tn in 2022 and 2023 to $105tn. China will account for none of that gain, the US will account for 45 per cent, and other emerging nations for 50 per cent.