The world is furious – again – about the increase in energy prices caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran. Since the last surge sent oil to $100 a barrel, protesters have burned tires and cars in Guatemala and Syria to express their rage. To offset the impacts of war, transportation systems and governments face another round of enormous strains. Fuel shortages and long lines at the pump are slowing economies, along with strikes by taxi drivers and workers who see no point in working when income barely covers energy costs. Many countries face a difficult question: Is it riskier to pass on price increases to a combustible public, accelerating inflation, or to reinforce subsidies and aid that would increase public debt and possibly threaten the stability of national currencies? “How much fiscal capacity do Asia or developing countries have? Does the world at large have to manage this geopolitical crisis? said Sana Jaffrey, a professor at the Australian National University who researches conflict and state-building in Asia. “What will happen to global financial markets when that capacity starts to run out?” “At some point,” she added, “it’s going to become everyone’s problem.” Here are some global flashpoints that the New York Times is monitoring. Indonesia In Makassar, South Sulawesi, residents reported this week about shortages of cooking gas, rolling blackouts and a sudden move towards gasoline rationing. Taxi drivers protested on Monday against a new rationing system organized according to odd and even number plates. Tensions have also been rising in Yogyakarta, in Java. Students demonstrated against rising fuel prices on Monday, only to have their demonstration interrupted by aggressive pro-government organizations. Rich and middle-class households have intensified. Government estimates before the war assumed oil prices would be around $70 a barrel, and public debt has soared since the conflict began. Philippines Manila Bay fishermen using diesel- or gas-powered boats were hoping this week to venture out to sea after weeks of monsoon rains. Now a large number of them remain in port. “Many were eager to get back to fishing, but they don’t have money to buy gasoline,” Fernando said. Hicap, national president of a major fishing association “The new round of price adjustments has been suffocating many of us.” Bus and ride-hailing drivers have also been marching in Quezon City and quietly protesting against working, a trend that is also emerging elsewhere in Vietnam, over the weekend, drivers for Grab, a ride-hailing app, called for a boycott to protest low wages caused in part by rising fuel costs. Modesto Floranda, leader of a group of 70,000 Filipino bus drivers and owners, said working 15 to 18 hours a day now only earns enough for a single meal. The government has offered one-time payments of around $80 to public transport drivers. “It’s not enough,” he said. Guatemala Transport workers and indigenous activists recently marched in the streets of Guatemala City, demanding more than stopgap measures such as price caps and subsidies. Some groups have called for a suspension of fuel taxes and a shift away from fossil fuels, which critics see as a source of elite enrichment and environmental damage. Farmers across Latin America, who rely heavily on diesel for tractors, have been especially frustrated. At a recent march in Guatemala, where videos showed a large crowd of workers, an organizer with a megaphone characterized the economic fight as a competition between governments and the rich, and everyone else. “They are in a luxurious place, so they don’t think about our misery, hunger or the cost of the basic food needs of the working class,” he said. “We will also continue to put pressure on them.” A few days later, in Villa Nueva, just south of the capital, videos showed burning cars in the streets. Portugal Organizing mainly on social media, Portuguese drivers gathered last week for several “buzinões”: protests in which cars drove slowly while playing the horn. They caused traffic jams on several key roads, including the 25 de Abril Bridge in Lisbon. In a sign of growing frustration with big oil and gas interests, a convoy of vehicles blocked access to roads near a major refinery in Sines, according to a local news site Naomi Hossain, a political sociologist at the University of London who has studied the impacts of energy crises, said it was common for people to assume that the costs of fossil fuels and. “There is good reason to believe that rampant inflation is pushing voters to the right,” he said. “Centrist governments don’t seem to be able to do much to protect people against these shocks, and there are no realistic left-wing alternatives in most places. So one consequence is that it is fueling populism.” Bangladesh imports more than 90 percent of the oil it uses, and most of it comes from the Middle East economy. Many turned to diesel after the war in Iran began in February, only to see those prices now rise. Robiul Hasan Mehedi, an official at a garment factory in Gazipur, the center of Bangladesh’s textile industry, said Tuesday that power outages now occur four or five times a day. Several hours of work stoppages, multiplied by dozens of factories and thousands of workers, are now the norm. Marching in part “against those who are forming unions around gas, oil and electricity and trying to increase prices.” Service Station Owners Anura Karunathilaka, Sri Lanka’s energy minister, said officials were considering whether to raise official prices and add subsidies. The country’s debt-to-gross domestic product ratio is already among the highest in the developing world. Syria Just hours after the government said it would temporarily increase prices of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products by up to 40 percent, angry Syrians took to the streets. They gathered in squares, blocked traffic and set tires on fire, calling for the price increase to be cancelled. In a video posted online, a man poured what he said was gasoline on his head and threatened to set himself on fire before a crowd intervened. Government officials said they had no choice but to raise prices because of the war. Report was contributed by Tiago Carrasco in Lisbon; Manila; Saif Hasnat in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Pamodi Waravita in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Raja Abdulrahim in Amman, Jordan; Hari Kumar in New Delhi;
