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"
You have a very Western centric view of the world... "

Why thank you.

I grew up in the middle of the Cold War. The Soviets and the Red Chinese were the enemy. When Richard Nixon opened up China to split it away from the Soviet Union in the early 1970s there was hope that China would over time change into a Democracy and a friend, the way Japan did after WW2. China and Russia are not natural friends. Nixon took advantage of Chinese antagonism towards the Soviets at being treated as very junior partners.

While China has progressed amazingly economically, it is still largely Maoist in every other sense, and is thus just as much the enemy of my Country as Russia is. Neither the governments of Russia nor China trust their citizens enough to give up their monopoly of power, and they sure will never grant them the protections that the US Constitution grants it's citizens from the tyranny of bureaucratic whims.

Come on you know it doesn't work that way. Each agricultural and for that matter industrial country runs surpluses in certain items, sells the rest on the world market, and uses that money to buy what it needs and wants from it's trading partners.

I am guessing that much of Russian grain is geared toward to export. Diverting that to domestic markets is not always simple, but okay. Russia is experiencing sugar shortages, even though Russia has invested $ Billions in their inefficient sugar beet industry. Even though overall Russian sugar production and stockpiles should be sufficient to keep supermarket shelves full, the supply chain dislocations caused by Putin's war and Western sanctions, means they aren't full.

Hoarding of what ever food and goods they can get is a logical response from ordinary Russian Citizens, who don't have a lot of options in dealing with their government and it's control over their lives. You may be able to trade sugar and flour later on for other goods you can't get right now, so again hoarding is a good survival strategy for people who don't know when the store shelves will be full again.

Russia may be able to produce bulk wheat and sugar, but it relies on the West for things like Insulin and specialized baby formula for those with health issues. Those shelves are increasingly empty. If a lowly citizen happens upon a lucky supply of some scarce item, he will buy as much as he can even if he has no immediate need for it, which further aggravates the shortages.

Russia is going back to the old Soviet economy. Ordinary Russians will have to relearn how to navigate the market inefficiencies inherent in that reality.

For nearly a month, Vladimir Putin has delivered a daily masterclass in incompetence and brutality. The ex-KGB spymaster and world-class kleptocrat was the guy Donald Trump wanted to be. Just weeks ago, the former president lavished praise on his idol and derided Nato as “not so smart”.

How’s that working out, Donald?

The world cheers for Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ukraine, his besieged country. Russia’s economy is on its knees, its stock market shuttered, its shelves bare. The rouble is worth less than a penny. The west is not as decadent or as flaccid as the tyrant-in-the-Kremlin and President Bone-Spurs bet.