After the invasion

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has created a global outcry. From the UN to the EU, all major regional and international bodies and organisations have condemned the attack and called it a flagrant violation of international law which binds nations to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every state.

Some Western analysts are equating Russia with the rising Germany of the 1930s and early 1940s, exerting its power over small nations, encroaching upon their territories and subjugating their people.

Others are calling him an incarnation of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who invaded Iran in the autumn of 1980, claiming that he wanted to rescue the Arabic-speaking people of Khuzestan, who had earlier revolted against Tehran. He invaded Kuwait almost a decade later, trampling upon its sovereignty and accused the country of extracting oil from Iraq’s border. He later declared that the occupied country was the fifth province of Iraq, which was taken away by the imperialists.

Many political observers see a parallel between the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who went after Georgia and Crimea in 2008 and 2014 respectively, and the adventures of Saddam whose brutal regime not only suppressed minority communities inside the country but also created fears among its neighbouring states.

The invasion has triggered a flurry of political activities on the part of Western powers that have slapped Moscow with crippling sanctions, causing the crash of the Russian currency and a market meltdown, which is likely to create immense hardship for Russians. Although the Russian Central Bank claims that everything is under control, the Russian people are taking these assurances of the Russian ruling elite with a pinch of salt. Long queues of visibly desperate people outside ATMs were witnessed in Russia’s major urban centres.

The effects of the sanctions are rather ‘miraculous’, prompting some of the richest Russians to speak against the war. Ordinary Russians also do not share the anti-Ukraine frenzy that dominates the Kremlin. Right after the invasion, they took to the streets and chanted slogans against the invasion which they fear might escalate into a nuclear war that could potentially incinerate the very existence of humanity.

Putin’s recent orders regarding nuclear deterrence and Nato’s preparations to protect the boundaries of its member states create an impression that this ‘potential war’ could be one of the terrible consequences of the current conflict if things are not brought under control. All powers are trying to exploit the situation, fuelling the fires of a conflagration that would rock not only Europe but also the rest of the world. Nato troops are increasing their presence in the boundaries of member states, besides making contingency plans to thwart a possible Russian invasion into the allies’ borders.

Germany is supplying 500 stinger missiles and other military hardware to the beleaguered Ukrainian government that has vowed to fight till the end. Russian hopes of a quick victory through a blitzkrieg seem to have evaporated. Although a few hundred casualties have been reported so far, it is feared that they might witness an exponential surge if the conflict prolongs.

Everyone with political consciousness would condemn what the Russian ruling elite has done against a relatively weaker state. The principle of ‘might is right’ cannot be tolerated even if it is used as an excuse for eliminating fascists and neo-Nazis. But there are also some grim realities to consider. It is true that Moscow has violated international law by invading a sovereign state, but the giant country is not the only one that is guilty of doing so. It was the US and its Western allies that set the precedent of targeting smaller nations. They went after Yugoslavia, dismembering the country and reducing it to ashes.

It was the US that waged an illegal war against Iraq after destroying the lives of more than 500,000 children through crippling sanctions; Western powers that financed jihadis in Syria, who played havoc with the lives of Syrians, rendering more than 11 million people homeless besides killing more than 550,000 people, and London, Paris and Washington plunged Libya into chaos through their support for non-state actors there. And like the unjustifiable Russian pretext of rescuing Russian-speaking people living inside Ukraine, the claims of the US and its allies that they launch operations against any country to liberate its people from the clutches of a dictator are not acceptable either.

Today, Moscow is employing the same pretext with a little modification that the US used during Operation Enduring Freedom. Russia’s blitzkrieg against a sovereign nation should be condemned at all global forums, but no immunity should be granted to those who want to bring democracy to countries through the ruthless bombardment of B52 which maim civilians and destroy cities, turning bustling urban centres into graveyards.

Today, Moscow wishes to install a puppet regime in Kyiv, but it is what the US and its Western allies have been doing in various parts of the world. If there is a movement of people against their ruling elite in any part of the world, the West should allow such people to fight their corner. It should not open secret funds for such movements for its nefarious designs

The people of the West fought their monarchs, lords, autocrats, barons and tyrants for decades to bring democracy to their societies. No external power intervened, in most cases, which is one of the secrets of their success. Other nations should be allowed to fight their battles against tyrants, autocrats and authoritarian rulers. Any meddling of the West in such movements will only exacerbate the situation.

This is the blunder the West made in Ukraine. An elected president was toppled in that country by orchestrating demonstrations on the pretext of an anti-corruption struggle. The West that claims to be the champion of democracy should decide whether the fate of a ruler depends on a ballot or mass street protests. If a ruler can be removed through mass protests, Biden, Macron and Johnson should also be dislodged through such protests. If an anti-West ruler has been voted into power in some parts of the world, the West should be patient enough to let him/her complete the term, instead of orchestrating demonstrations.

Regime change through mass demonstrations in Ukraine was a Western invention. Ukraine would not have plunged into this terrible conflict if the West had not thrown support behind the protesters that were seeking to dislodge Viktor Yanukovych who was democratically elected and deserved to complete his term. The toppling of his government through protests, which were widely attended by neo-Nazis and far-right activists, created suspicions in Moscow providing it an excuse to protect its backyard.

The West and Russia possess more than 10,000 nuclear weapons, and any conflict between the two would spell a disaster at a global level. Therefore, the UN must be engaged and a negotiating team comprising neutral states should immediately be formed to tame the unbridled flames of the conflict.

The writer is a freelance journalist who can be reached at: egalitarianism444@gmail. com