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Comment by throwaway1237 | Hacker News Reader

Regarding fertilizer I don't think there is panacea due to its dependence on Natural Gas. Also, it doesn't seem to be problematic for India and China as they are open to import oil and fertilizer from Russia.

Looks like US is not just sanctioning Russia, but also sanctioning poor countries, adhering to US, that depends on Russia fertilizers, wheat, cooking oils etc.. Anyway, US don't have any choice, but this also proves reality always foreshadow ethics. I hope countries will focus more on peace, rather than promotion of hawkish ideas.

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You have to look at geo political implications if China or Russia wouldn’t help theses poorer countries they lose all the impact they made over the last decade by providing infrastructure to these countries. It’s not the clear cut case you make it out to be. The whole fertilizer production problem is also more of a logistical problem because fertilizer production is easy and there are a lot of countries with natural gas reserves. Russia on the other hand can’t produce tech or seeds for secondary fruits needed for a proper soil rotation. You can easily kickstart fertilizer production. Tech and seed not so much especially when you take into account that Russia optimized their agriculture for modern single use seeds.

>Looks like US is not just sanctioning Russia, but also sanctioning poor countries,

Roughly 100 million people will starve and suffer from malnutrition due to the wheat/fertilizer and sanctions applied by US (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60623941)

Biden knows and brushed it away during a news conference. You assume US and the west cares anything at all about people's lives in Africa/India

Don't forget the US already applied sanctions and killed half a million children and Madeleine said it was "worth it"

Madeleine Albright Dies at 84; Once Defended U.S. Sanctions Despite Deaths of 500K+ Iraqi Children https://www.democracynow.org/2022/3/24/former_secretary_stat...

You mean: roughly 100 million people will starve and suffer from malnutrition because Russia invaded Ukraine.

It was an entirely predictable outcome based on one country's actions.

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