Commentary While the world is focused on the situation between Russia and Ukraine, the global economy is already rapidly slowing down. Further uncertainty due to geopolitics and war could easily tip the global economy into a recession. For the Fed, the Russia and Ukraine conflict could not come at a worse time as it is about to embark on its first tightening cycle since 2004. Many pundits are calling for the Fed to back off its tentative plan to raise the Federal Funds Rate or even commit to a slower pace of rate hikes as any tightening could shock the U.S. economy. Even though Fed Chair Jerome Powell would probably prefer to keep monetary policy loose, inflation is running rampant. Many consumers are blaming the Fed for creating runaway inflation due to its overuse of Quantitative Easing and zero-interest-rate policy as many Americans are not seeing their wages rise as …