Covid-19 was bad, Putin-22 is worse - special offers to help the Ukrainian refugees
(I do not mean to suggest that Covid's threat is totally over now, but that we have most likely learned how to tame it well enough to be sure that it is manageable in the foreseeable future.)
Even if Putin does not kill as many people as that nasty virus did (over 6 million and counting worldwide), and one should count casualties on both sides, his aggression on a neighboring country (Ukraine), that he was cowardly denying before his own (Russian) nation calling it cynically "a special operation," is an act of gruesome and totally unprovoked cruelty and lawlessness.
The guy is a deranged asshole of gigantic proportions and the sooner he is removed from power the better for everyone, including Russians, who, however, seem to be mostly backing him at this point - this is rather sad, though largely unsurprising, for Russia has a long history of ugly imperialism, that might have seemed normal in the 19th century, but is totally out of place in the 21st.
Arguing with a virus makes no sense. It's not even a living entity. On the other hand, arguing with Putin and his supporters about this war being totally senseless may make sense, except that it probably doesn't either for Putin and his apologists seem to be as morally advanced as, well, viruses or bacteria.
Imagine the Brits trying to reconquest India or some other of their former colonies. The whole world would be aghast at and up in arms against this idea. I am sure in the very UK there would be riots against it too. Yet, this is pretty much what Putin is trying to do: to turn Ukraine into a vassal country, subjugated to the whims of the Kremlin rulers. That is not acceptable to the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians and pretty much to the rest of the civilized world.
While this war does not directly affect the West, and even less so the US, it has had some impact on the countries in Central Europe that share the borders with Ukraine. This is due to a continuous influx of Ukrainian refugees into these countries, Poland, where I am originally from, in the first place. Poland has received over 2 million of Ukrainian people over the last several weeks, mostly women and children or the elderly, a pretty large number for a nation of about 38 million citizens.
Apart from the issue of human suffering, arguably the most heartbreaking, there are other serious issues that this war is likely to cause, issues of economic nature. It may lead to a recession in Europe and if so, most likely in the US as well, it may cause food shortages and thus spikes in food prices affecting disproportionally the poor. The energy prices are bound to rise too, leading to a greater inflation in a broad basket of products. In fact, these things have already happened, but if this conflict is not resolved soon, they may only get worse.
The stock markets are likely to decline or tread water, as a result causing losses to the wealthy as well, and let's not forget, that they too are quite important drivers of global economic activity. It's easy, tempting, if not just fashionable to dislike the rich these days, but it's better to live in a country where there is an abundance of them than in a country where they are a rarity. Fair taxing them is another matter.
In one word (or sentence, rather), this stupid war is good for nothing, except boosting the sick pride of the nation of perennial Eastern aggressors, Russians. But that's not going to last and the consequences of this pride seeking adventure may be quite traumatic for them in the long run. Russia has already been reduced to a pariah state in the West and more crippling sanctions are, I am afraid, still coming. Putin has united the West, the EU and the NATO alliance more than anything or anyone since the beginnings of last Cold War. That's actually a very positive development, although accomplished at a steep, inhumane price.
This war is also not good for me or my business. I was born only about 50 km (about 30 miles) from the Polish border with Ukraine. Some of my relatives live right on the border (in Przemyśl), others in the region bordering Ukraine. Needless to say, I am concerned about them, though at this point I am more concerned about the fate of my Ukrainian brothers and sisters who have been forced to leave their motherland in order to seek refuge in Poland or other friendly countries west off their border. Their ordeal is much greater and I do hope will end sooner rather than later.
I have decided to get involved in helping them as much as I can.
In particular, I will keep the special prices on two of my main products (KING and Easy Money in Stocks) for some time to come. I have also lowered the price of another trading product (George Collection of trading systems).
KING, that now contains George Collection, and the collection itself are e-mini futures trading products, the former being a day trading course. Easy Money in Stocks is my original stock trading method for the US markets.
The profits from the sales of these products will go to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
If interested in day trading e-mini futures or trading the US stocks and if also interested in helping the less fortunate fleeing from the biggest war zone in Europe since the WWII, then this may be one way to approach it. If not interested in trading or in this little initiative of mine, I would still encourage you to find some other manner to help these people and their nation in its recovery from this tragic, totally uprovoked war.
Unfortunately, what this means is that some of my business plans have to be (but only temporarily) put on the back burner. I will return to them as soon as possible and I am very determined to carry them through. I apologize to my clients for this and ask for your patience once more. I will be in touch about it via email soon.
Posted on April 27th, 2022.