In this solo geopolitical analysis, David Oualaalou examines why Russia abruptly decided not to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative, arguing that the decision stems from Western violations of the agreement’s second pillar – the allowance for Russian grain and fertilizer to reach global markets. He outlines the original July 2022 deal brokered by Turkey, which permitted Ukrainian grain exports via a humanitarian corridor and also granted Russia similar market access. Oualaalou contends that sanctions, insurance restrictions, and port refusals imposed by the EU and the United States effectively blocked the Russian side of the deal, prompting Moscow’s withdrawal. The video critiques Western double standards, cites statements from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, US officials (Linda Thomas‑Greenfield, Antony Blinken), Ukrainian officials, and Turkish officials, and highlights the broader ramifications for global food security, the weaponisation of food, and geopolitical power dynamics. He concludes that Russia is acting within its rights and that the West’s hypocrisy is the real driver of the crisis.
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Hello everyone and welcome to Geopolitical Trends. My name is David Oualaalou. So good to be with you as always. As a geopolitical analyst, I ask, why did Russia refuse to extend the grain agreement? What are the ramifications of these decisions? In this video, I'm going to provide you answers in addition to providing you also the reason the West is not disclosing why Russia decided to embark on this. So let's dive in. Russia refuses to extend the grain agreement and confirms just yesterday that its decision is final. Yeah, and many are wondering why, but the West is not disclosing the reasons. So a senior Russian members of the delegation at the United Nations saying that as of Monday, Russia will not extend the Black Sea Grain, uh, Grain rather, agreement. You know, it is a final decision and there is no plan for further talks on it, while Washington described the Russian decision as, and I put this in quote, "brutal act." Yeah, does the West realize what he's saying? Double standard, that is. But for— here is a brief background just for you to understand what this is all about and what is the grain deal, all of it. The grain deal was reached in July 2022 at the initiative of Turkey and with an agreement between Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations, where the agreement provides for the exports of Ukrainian grain through human— humanitarian corridor opened by the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. And that provided also that Russia grain and fertilizer are also allowed access to the world markets. So in other words, there were two parts of this deal. One will be the Ukraine grain that will be shipped to a global market But also part of the deal was the Russian grain and fertilizer that will be also shipped to global markets. So Russian, the spokesperson, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the deal has stalled, but Moscow was ready to return to it once the Russian part of it is implemented. So this is where— what's at the heart of all this, which the West is not— Western media is not disclosing. So the second part of the deal by which Russian grain and fertilizer access to world market has not been implemented. Why? Because other countries, European, for example, European Union, said no, no, no, Russia is sanctioned, so we can't allow. Well, isn't that the deal that they agreed upon? So how come now the West is going back on it? That is the reason why Russia decided to block all this. Russia understands there will be some other countries impacted by this because we're talking about food security. But also, how can the West think in terms of, well, we're going to have to sort of isolate Russia by allowing the grain only from Ukraine when the deal was agreed upon by the United Nations? Okay, that both Russia and Ukraine will ship their grain, and in case of Russia, ship also fertilizer. This is where— because it looks to me that we are, we in the West, trying to implement only the first part of the deal. And now you have insurance companies and port services penalizing ships that do business with Russia. That's a double standard. We agreed to an agreement, so we end up having to hold our end of the bargain for that. Ukraine also— and get this, guys, again, it's not disclosed openly or widely disseminated across Western media— Ukraine also refused to launch the ammonia pipeline from which ammonia is exported to the European Union. So Israel looks like Ukraine just taking decisions on its own. Well, that means breaking agreements. That's, that's where the issue is. So the agreement which has been extended several times, this grain agreement, by the way, guys, or grain deal, has been agreed or extended several times, which has allowed more than 30— yeah, 30 million metric tons of grain and food to be shipped from Ukraine. Okay, that's gonna be shipped from Ukraine all the way to, uh, since August. That's been since August according to the United Nations, August of last year. And here is the US response. The US response is that, uh, the suspension of the grain by the Russians, uh, and I put this in quote, would worsen food security and hurt millions, end of quote. Yeah, but that's hypocrisy, you know. Why the White House is not saying that, oh, we broke our deal with the Russians that they would not allow them to sort of export their own fertilizer and grain. So that, that, that's why now you're seeing, you're hearing statements from the White House, we urge the government Russia to immediately reverse its decision. No, they're not gonna do that. And Russia is willing to go back to the deal if it is implemented in full as it was agreed upon. The US ambassador to the UN also condemned Russia's withdrawal from the agreement, calling it, calling it a brutal act. No, that's nonsense. Greenfield, the ambassador of US to the UN, said, and I quote, "At a time when Russia is playing political games, real people are going to suffer," end of quote. This is what Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the reporters. Yeah, but that's double standard. How come we didn't say that we broke the deal? We are the one that caused it. So Russia just reacting to an action that we did. You have, you have now the Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying, and I put this in quote, "The result of what Russia has done today is the use of food as a weapon. Making food reach places where it is most needed will be more difficult in addition to increasing prices," end of quote. Well, wait a minute, aren't we making, for example, weaponizing the dollar also? So this is where that hypocrisy and the double standards comes in. So in Ukraine, yeah, Sergey Nikivorov, which is the spokesperson for the, uh, the comedian President Zelensky, uh, was quoted saying that everything possible must be done so that the Black Sea uh, again, export corridor continue to be used. Yeah, good luck with that. The Black Sea corridor is under the control of Russia. So, and he said, and I quote, even without the Russian Federation, everything must be done so that we can use this Black Sea corridor, end of quote. No, no, no, you know, he is, uh, this person, his name is, uh, Sergey Nikayevorov, he's the spokesperson for the comedian President Zelensky. He's hallucinating, that's what it is. Interesting enough is that Turkey, who broke the deal back in July 2022, the president of Turkey, Erdoğan, said at a press conference that he will discuss the issue with Putin because Putin, President Putin, is planning a visit to to Turkey soon. So, as a matter of fact, next month, and I will report on it because I am keeping an eye on that, and I will report that to you as well. So what the president of Turkey pointed to was that there is no— there is now a committee in Istanbul that follows up on everything related to the grain agreement, and the president of Turkey expressed his wishes that it will continue its work and achieve an achievement. So, but here is the interesting aspects of this. A member of the Security Council and foreign policies in the Turkish presidency, his name is Mesut Haki Yaşım, told Al Jazeera network that Russia— get this, guys, and I'm gonna put in quote— Russia is right in its demands and conditions to renew the grain deal, noting that it expresses its desire to continue the deal, but other international parties refuse to deal with it to export Russia's grain and fertilizer. End of quote. So you can just see why the— what the West is saying versus the reality of it. This is what prompts me to get on the air here and share with you because you need to know, put it within the right context. So, and, uh, I think Russia is acting within its right because how can you all of a sudden change the horses in the middle of the race? The agreement was done, was approved or agreed upon that both Ukraine and Russia grain and fertilizer will be shipped to the world. So all of a sudden, the West is taking a turn by saying, no, we will only allow Ukraine's grain but not Russia's grain and fertilizer. That's to me hypocrisy and double standards, plain as it is. And this is the answer to the fundamental question I asked at the beginning. So if you find the content of this video interesting, please hit that like button and subscribe so you show your support for this channel. And thank you so much. As always, remember, geopolitics impact your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, guys. Bye-bye.
