As most of you may know, Brandon is the Chief Investment Officer and founder of PortfolioMetrix and currently oversees some R60bn of assets. He is uniquely placed to give both perspective and opinion. As he goes on to share in his thought piece below, there are a swathe of options facing both Russia and the West, with a range of consequences. As always with events like this, the data can change by the hour so feel free to grab this while it’s hot!

This Report is compiled by Brandon Zietsman, CEO and CIO - PortfolioMetrix.

Many of you will have spent the last several days riveted to the news and sickened to the stomach. At a personal level, I find it difficult to conduct even routine tasks without thinking about the events in the Ukraine.

The situation has developed swiftly, and news becomes outdated just as quickly. In this special report, I have tried to incorporate geopolitical context and provide military perspectives that will be applicable to how this conflict develops from here onwards, as much as they are relevant to what has happened already. I have also tried to frame the choices available to political leaders that could plausibly provide a pathway out of this conflict.

I have deliberately not focused on markets, which I’ll leave for Messrs. Bradford, de Jongh and team. However, as always, it is seldom a smart move to veer from one’s strategy in times of crisis and we are attentive to opportunities to buy into weakness.

It is a lengthy report, so by all means use the contents table to jump to the bits that interest you.