THE YEAR OF CONFLICT

The year, which began with a modicum of positivity as the pandemic eased, quickly devolved into chaos after war erupted in Ukraine, its reverberations felt across the world, including in India.

As 2022 wore on, the pre-existing fractures in the international order became deeper and more urgent. But the year itself had begun with great expectation: Covid was nearly over, the world economy flush with funds, there were new opportunities in cryptocurrency and a smorgasbord of startups were available to the intrepid investor.

Instead, Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and everything turned upside-down, except prices which only went up.

Though geographically isolated, the impact of the war has been global. Ukraine is one of the largest grain and edible oil exporter and the war's de facto blockade of the Black Sea exacerbated already rising food prices in the world. The 10 months of fighting, a throwback to the Europe of a previous century, have created a humanitarian crisis within the central European country, leaving at least 6.5 million people internally displaced, 7.8 million refugees across Europe, and more than 7 million without electricity as winter deepens.

The conflict has also interrupted climate policies as disruptions in the energy trade have sent fuel prices soaring and brought many coal-fired plants back in action in Europe, where Russia is the main provider of natural gas. Geopolitical tensions have revived the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), with Sweden and Finland shedding their strategic neutrality to join the alliance. At times, when Moscow felt it was on the back foot and concerned about Ukrainian incursions into Russia proper, nuclear language was used. As the US government has admitted, neutral players such as India played a role in ensuring that rhetoric did not become reality.

Challenges for India