Vultures of war: The war criminals and war profiteers

The top five oil producers made about $200 billion in profit from soaring oil prices since the Russian invasion. When the war is over, rebuilding Ukraine's infrastructure would present more than a $1 trillion bonanza for American and European construction companies; perhaps also the Chinese.

- NARAIN BATRA

Hovering all around, over death and destruction, are the vultures of war—arms manufacturers, energy companies, politicians and oligarchs, black-market traders, and human traffickers.

The Biden Administration has come to a definitive conclusion that Russia’s wanton aggression against Ukraine which has brutalized and killed thousands and thousands of innocent people and destroyed cities and towns, was not only an act of horrific war. Russia has committed war crimes.

At the Munich Security Conference in late February, Vice President Kamala Harris said that “we have examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt: these are crimes against humanity. And I say to all those who have perpetrated these crimes, and to their superiors who are complicit in those crimes—you will be held to account.”

The war crimes, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, included rape, “execution-style killings,” “torture of civilians in detention through beatings, electrocution, and mock executions” and the deportation of

“hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, including children who have been forcibly separated from their families.”

We do not know how long the Ukrainians would keep suffering. UN agencies, International Criminal Court, and other international legal bodies would take their time to determine whether Russia committed crimes against humanity.

That said, 3,610 miles away a muted voice from a poor country dared speak up that the war has created windfall profits for some companies.