If you went to war, eventually you would target the other side’s infrastructure. The infrastructure creates jobs and ensures goods and services move around freely. The other side of the coin is by disrupting infrastructure, you break supply chains and cause delays. After the war, there would be a need to recreate the infrastructure along friendly lines. When the infrastructure is back in place, other aspects of living return to what was normal. For countries to control others, controlling the infrastructure is a key.

In an article by Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans of Reuters, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania completed a switch from relying on Russia’s electricity grid to the EU system.

European Union (EU) President Ursula von der Leyen, said the switch took years in planning and marked a new era of freedom for the region.

The reliance on Russia’s electricity grid had been on the EU’s to do list for decades and every time, Russia invaded Ukraine, first in 2014 and again in 2022, the action gained momentum.

The Russian system IPS/UPS network was built in the 1950’s. The 3 countries emerged as independent nations after the USSR broke up in the 1990’s and joined the EU in 2004.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, there are industries which can be turned around on a dime and there are others that turn similar to the longest oil tankers. The companies that take time to turn around tend to be regulated more often, which means the government is giving them a semi monopoly like position. The infrastructure as up front capital cost to build, but once in place allows for revenues to surpass the interest on the debt and as long as the maintenance is reasonable, can generate cash flows which flow to the investor. Those are good companies to invest in.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.