By Tim Sahay.
"Media coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has focused on Vladimir Putin’s desire to patch the Soviet Union back together into some semblance of empire, and his outrage at NATO creep. Putin may look increasingly like a mad king, and his attack like a scattershot and ego-driven blunder. But the Kremlin had been planning the invasion (if not their own military readiness) for months, and the timing coincides with a run-up in energy prices and tight commodity markets that gave Putin major strategic leverage..."
From the review of Price Wars: How the Commodities Markets Made Our Chaotic World by Tim Sahay in The American Prospect.