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Ukraine: the human cost of a global shift
And while the systems are reorganizing themselves, Ukraine is burning. This is where any geo-economic analysis reaches its limits. Because behind every graph, every diverted financial flow, there are:
• destroyed cities,
• displaced families,
• broken lives. Ukraine did not choose to be this laboratory. It is paying the price for a war that is beyond its control. Talking about a“ necessary test” is intellectually tempting. Humanly speaking, it is unsustainable. Therefore, any structural analysis must incorporate its human dimension. In this reading, Ukraine tragically appears as a peripheral area of friction, where tensions between hegemonic orders are expressed. Braudel reminded us that systemic transitions are always violent. The war in Ukraine confirms this historical constant: changes in the global economy rarely come without conflict. The war in Ukraine has revealed what many suspected but dared not say: the global economic order of the 21st century will not be unified. It will be negotiated, fragmented, contested. It will no longer be imposed without resistance. Yes, Russia has shown that a state can survive outside SWIFT. Yes, this changes the strategic calculations of the entire world. Yes, financial multipolarity is now irreversible. But the human cost of this demonstration is immense. The real question, then, is not whether an alternative world will emerge. It is already emerging. The question is whether we will be able to build it without it being born, once again, in ruins and blood.
Flashmag! Edition 168 Janvier 2026
Hubert Marlin Elingui Jr. Journaliste
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