War is one thing that no society should engage themselves into as its effect is devastating and unforgettable upon generations. When two or more countries are warring it is said that there are other countries that benefits in one way or the other from the war as it prolongs and intensifies, especially economical benefits is one of such.
The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine which has been on for almost a year now and the effects of the war between these two is not only on the two warring countries alone but has gone so far as affecting the economies of many countries of the world that have no involvement or interference in the said war. countries of Europe are experiencing a fall short in gas supply, while those of Africa and other continent suffer from economic downfall as a result of certain products and services that are no longer in-coming due to the war effect.
With this Russia Ukraine war which the effect is felt in almost all parts of the world directly and indirectly, I want to ask are there beneficiaries to this war and in what ways are they benefiting from it.
You described it well and phrased an interesting question. I must say that the question, if you really think about it in detail, is an incredibly complex one and you would have differentiate on so many levels and in so many areas to come up with an answer that at least offers some level of detail.
You could say that China benefits from cheap energy since Russia is forced to find alternative customers because of the ban of Western countries. While China now has cheap energy, they are also an export nation that depends on frictionless markets and smoothly working supply chains. Is it a good deal to have cheap energy in exchange for markets full of frictions and disturbed supply chains? If you just calculate that in monetary terms, I guess China is worse off as they benefit the most from a vibrant global economy with them at the core of a main export nation.
But if you look at it from a political angle, China benefits from Russia doing the dirty work now, meaning that they are keeping the West busy with defending Ukraine while they can stockpile military equipment produced with cheap energy in order to prepare for some future confrontation.
Now this is just a tiny excerpt of what is going on in the world. The fact alone that Russia and Ukraine combined are responsible for almost 25% of the global grain export shows how critical they are to the global food supply especially in areas like Africa.
I doubt that any country as a whole is better off economically because of the war. Industries are, of course, but entire countries, I don't know. My guess would be no. If anyone knows better than me, I'd be interested in knowing.