Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Jan. 18 that she’s “extremely confident” that Ukraine will defeat Russia, which would result in giving a jolt to the economy.
Freeland said G7 finance ministers and governments cannot control COVID-19, the global supply chains or whether there will be “immaculate disinflation.”
What they can do, she said, is to provide more assistance to Ukraine.
“One thing where we have some real practical levers is we can help Ukraine win, clearly, definitively. And if we do that, if that happens this year, you know it as well as I do Fareed, that would be a huge boost to the global economy,” Freeland said.
Fareed Zakaria of CNN was the host of the panel “Restoring Security and Peace” in Davos, which also included Polish President Andrzej Duda, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
Freeland had told the committee that supporting Ukraine was an important part of Canada’s inflation fighting strategy.
She also didn’t define what would constitute a Ukrainian victory. If it doesn’t entail removing the current Russian regime, an end to the conflict would not automatically increase the energy output to Europe and elsewhere or even necessarily lead to the lifting of sanctions against the Kremlin.
The Canadian deputy prime minister and finance minister, who also sits on the WEF board of trustees, said the war is ultimately a fight about values and that some “critical things” are being decided on the battlefield, such as our economies, our security, and the principle of nuclear deterrence.
Other panel participants expanded on the implications of the conflict.
Haines said that beyond issues like values, the rule of law, and the economy, the conflict has consequences related to the strength of the Western alliance and how future crises will be managed.
She mentioned how China is taking military lessons from the war.
“Among the things that would seem most likely is that you really want to overmatch essentially, in this context, and have a quick conflict as opposed to allowing effectively the world to come together to provide assistance,” Haines said.
Stoltenberg did expand on what he believes a Ukrainian victory would look like, and it entails escalating the war to achieve a position of strength in a negotiated peace settlement.
“Weapons, they are the way to peace,” he said.
