The attack on Ukraine was also tragic, especially because the shelling of Ukraine’s major cities took place after weeks of diplomacy, in the wake of numerous trips by European leaders to Moscow and Kyiv, a series of meetings between United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterpart Sergey Lavrov, and especially following last year’s summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Media reports said that as a result of bombardments launched by Russian forces on cities in the Eastern part of Ukraine, three people have died and many were injured. In the coming days, we certainly can expect things to take a turn for the worse.

The Pentagon projects that in the event of a Russian invasion, the outcome would be “horrific” and result in significant casualties.

In neighboring Eastern European countries, governments are expecting hundreds of thousands of refugees to stream in, and already, the governments of Poland and Romania have begun mulling over the setting up of refugee camps.

For countries that don’t share a border with Russia and Ukraine, the prospects of war are causing a global ripple effect — right when we are beginning to see the light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel.

On Thursday, the price of oil breached the US$100 benchmark, the first since 2014. The price of other commodities has also surged, including aluminum, which hit a record high on Thursday.

In the coming days, we can also expect to see cyberattacks being deployed, which could affect the lives of millions.

But beyond these short-term economic problems and the attendant humanitarian crisis, we can expect that in the event of a full-scale war, global tensions would be at an all-time high, something that we have not seen since the end of the Cold War.

If anything, this will be a Cold War redux.

It has now become clear that the Russian attack on Ukraine was motivated by the perception in Moscow that the West is encroaching on its sovereignty, that the possible incorporation of Ukraine into the European Union and NATO would curtail Russia’s independence. In fact, we can safely say that President Putin is on a personal mission to restore the glory of the Soviet Union and rewrite the history of how the last Cold War ended.

And with Putin already securing an alliance with China, we can expect tensions to also reach the Indo-Pacific region soon.

None of this would benefit everyone, especially with the more pressing problems of dealing with the pandemic, mitigating climate change and generating economic growth post-COVID 19.

Diplomacy has not yet been exhausted and we believe all major powers involved in the conflict can still resort to talks and negotiation.

Ukrainians might resent this idea, but “Finlandization” could be one of the plausible solutions to defuse tensions with Russia.

Everyone should give peace a chance. The occupation of another country, especially with military means, should have no place in today’s global politics.