Creating another Israel ?
THE British Intelligence has estimated that a third of the Russian ground forces committed to Ukraine War has probably perished, while in some regions, Russian advance has been slowed down or halted.
At the same time, Ukrainian forces are now reported to have gone on the offensive, at least on a small scale, and have actually attacked Russian forces inside Ukraine.
Russians also claimed two Ukrainian helicopters attacked an oil depot, 25 miles inside Russian border, which claim Ukraine rejected.
The US and its Western allies would, of course, be happy with these developments and in this, see the possibility of further weakening, even defeating Russia.
We hear that the US government is already working on a $40 billion military and economic aid package for Ukraine.
There are also reports that Sweden and Finland – with later having 830-mile border with Russia – have decided to join NATO, while Russia is opposing it. Of course, all this would have further elated the US and its allies.
However, these development have raised the possibility of Russia escalating the war and even using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
After all, having suffered dismemberment of the Soviet Union at the hands of the US and its allies, for which Russian forces were lured to attack Afghanistan – and in which war, Pakistan also foolishly entered and has since been paying the price – it is unlikely that Russia will just wait patiently and take kindly to what US and its allies are doing to it, using Ukraine as the battle-ground this time, as opposed to Afghanistan in the earlier round.
And leaving aside the consequences of this war for the rest of the world – like curtailing grain supply – it would prove just as tragic for Ukrainians as the earlier one did for Afghans.
And attempts by the US and its allies to create another Israel at the door-step of Russia, and in the vicinity of its real rival China, will create the same destabilization in the region, like happened earlier in the Middle East.
Earlier on, millions of Palestinians were forced to abandon their homes and become refugees, whereas the Ukrainians are suffering the same fate now.
And while presently the Europeans and Americans are welcoming them, eventually they will be facing discrimination like other refugees.
As it is, the cases of refugees from Afghanistan hoping to settle in the US have already been put on the back burner.
The most shocking thing is that all this – and even the nuclear attack, which is likely if things keep moving along the same trajectory – could have been avoided if, following the policy of live and let live, the US and its allies agreed to give the guarantee asked by the Russians not to make Ukraine a NATO member.
And the Russian demand was not even unreasonable in view of what the Soviet Union suffered at the hands of US and its allies in Afghanistan.
It is also surprising how the vast Christian population of Ukraine allowed Volodymyr Zelensky to do to them what he has done to realize his wild dream of becoming a world-class hero, to be remembered for centuries for his supposed courage.
Already, the Western press has started equating him with Winston Churchill who had offered his “blood, toil, tears and sweat” to achieve victory against Nazis.
Of course, Churchill remained safe and comfortable while what he had promised to offer became the fate of millions of people around the world and even in Britain. The Ukraine war also bears a lot of similarities with the earlier ones.
The World War II was supposed to be against Nazis, and in his Victory Day speech, Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine war also to be against Nazis.
Also while the establishment of Israel had caused death, destruction, deprivation and uprooting of millions of Palestinians from the land they had lived on for generations, the creation of another Israel in Ukraine will do/is doing the same to Ukrainians.
Even the present state of death and destruction in Ukraine is massive. However, if the exercise of brinkmanship by the United States and its allies continues, there is a distinct possibility of Russia using tactical nuclear weapons to cut its losses. And if it comes to that, the damage would be colossal and may involve many countries.
A big difference between World War II and the enlarged version of the Ukraine war would be that while the earlier one was, to a large extent, unavoidable, the Third World War would, of course, be the result of the unreasonable desire of the US and its allies to keep dominating the whole world and, as such, is clearly avoidable.
I can’t understand why the United States and its Western allies find it difficult to ‘live and let live’, and seem so desperate to add to the suffering of human beings who are already facing many calamities, and need a healing touch.
We had the Coronavirus problem of which we have not seen the end yet, even though it has been brought sufficiently under control.
And already, we are facing the problem of global warming and climate change which is wreaking havoc around the world.
Solution of these problems requires cooperation of the world community apart from massive expenditure.
Unfortunately, the world leaders are busy doing the exact opposite, like creating friction, starting conflicts and wars, and happily spending billions of dollars on it.
Somehow, the Western community led by the US seems to be interested more in creating new problems rather than solving the old ones.
While doing nothing to solve problems created in consequence of establishing Israel in the Middle East, the US-led group now seems bent upon creating another Israel in Ukraine, least bothered about its fallout.
— The writer is senior political analyst based in Karachi.
