By Askiah Adam
Since 24 February 2022 I have near religiously followed the progress of Russia’s Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine. More than 2 years into the conflict many want Russia to end the SMO and embrace a war instead. Russia has voiced the intention but watching their reticence I am not convinced that sentimentality has been shed by the Russians. Indeed, while both sides are Slavs, the Ukrainians have shed such hints of an inborn relationship existing between them. To the Ukrainians they are as distinct from the Russians as I am. But my political inclinations see me marching alongside them in their political predilections. Not so with the Ukrainians many of whom are Bandera Nazis responsible for the murder of thousands of Jews during the Second World War.
And so is demonstrated the distinct division between them; on the one hand the Russians can be argued to be the force that defeated Hitler’s Nazism during World War II while on the other hand the Ukrainians of the time were allies of Hitler and were Nazis led by Bandera.
And today, I contend that if such quirky sentiments did not hold the Russians back, an invasion of Ukraine similar to the illegal invasion of Iraq by the Unite States in 2003 would have made the Russian SMO short and sweet as many predicted. That the Russian leadership lulled themselves into believing that a just war is possible and that brutality can be left out of a war equation speaks of a conscience too debilitating for the good of humanity. Yes, the preservation of the moral high ground is important but at what cost? I laud the Russians for their beliefs but given the current outcome it does seem to indicate that war is violence at full force and any other take on it is at best cynical and at worst dangerous!
Where the world might be headed at the moment speaks of the latter truth. The combined West’s insistence that Ukraine carries on the proxy war on their behalf, despite the proximity “to the last Ukrainian man” remark manifesting and the shortage of armaments when compared to that available to the Russian forces, speaks of the inhumane urges of the combined West. As the equation stands at the moment and if the war persists an escalation is inevitable: from World War III to a nuclear war!
Attempting an explanation of this takes almost everyone trying, those who can hold strong to their reason, declaring insanity as the only reasonable explanation for the suicidal urges of the combined West given the perceived equation between the West and Russia that favours the latter. Firstly, the West as demonstrable, is unable to replenish their armaments requirements at the same speed at which Russia is able to. Currently, Russia is already way ahead of the countries of the combined West put together. Secondly, the hotly discussed superiority of Russian military technology: most especially its hypersonic missiles such as the Kinzal. The US has nothing to combat it. Russia, meanwhile, has air defense equipment such as the S400 and S500 said to be way more effective than US’ Patriot missiles and the wars in both Europe and the Middle East is demonstrating the Patriot’s much hyped pretense at superiority. In short, an all out war between the nuclear superpowers cannot but lead to nuclear escalation! As Putin says he will not accept a future without Russia and to make this scenario a real possibility is its nuclear management system. A first shot at Russia will activate an automatic counterattack all set up to destroy that finger on the red button and his populace. No Russian need be alive to do this. No other description than insanity can succinctly describe what the world is going through.
And accusations by the combined West that the Russian SMO is unprovoked makes everything seem surreal. No sane person can accept the current situation as a necessary given. That the West lies through their teeth without shame is shocking! Their wicked assumption that the rest of the world is but cattle to be strung along at their will is offensive. Only the December before the SMO, some two months, the West had blithely disregarded Russia’s call for a new security architecture for the whole West to protect its borders from the shifting NATO borders already meeting theirs at several points despite the promise by America’s James Baker, the Reagen administration’s Secretary of State, now evidenced by a letter from Baker to the Russians, that the NATO borders will not move an inch eastwards. By now the post-SMO NATO-Russian border has all but enveloped Russia.
Is this not provocation enough? US missiles are now in Romania and more thus cutting the time for defense manouvres dramatically for Russia. A NATO Russia-hating Ukraine is viewed by Russia as more than dangerous. It was, after all, once part of Soviet Russia. That much of Russia can be vulnerable as a result need not be spelt out. To feel safe Russia needs a neutral Ukraine. Hence the SMO has cracked open the danger, for all to see, that were anticipated by Russia.
Currently a nuclear escalation is spoken with a measure of normalcy as if the horrors of human extinction has been forgotten. No, a nuclear war promises our obliteration too. For, while the explosions may be confined to the West and its Near East the nuclear winter will be ours to suffer at least for a short time when the nuclear fallout will shut out the sun and ultimately our food supply plus all our needs for life because the nuclear winter will last long enough!
What can Russia do to prevent this fatal escalation?
President Putin is saying as much and as little as necessary to avoid looking weak. After all have not the West and their military arm, NATO, declared a frozen stalemate for the Russia-Ukraine conflict all on their own as if Russia, all set to win the war, will agree without protest!
For Russia not to counter a nuclear attack is already out of the question. A counter nuclear attack is a technologically done deal. Russia has won the Ukraine war but the combined West is obstinately delusional. The former is willing to come to the table for as long as its victory is recognized and on that basis a peaceful settlement is arrived at. But NO, the combined West is insistent on obliterating Ukraine which sits fine with the leader/s of the world’s most corrupt country. It is okay too for the Ukraine leadership of corrupt Ukraine to decimate the country of its young men and possibly even women. And, why are the Europeans especially, behaving as lambs led to slaughter? Wouldn’t a nuclear explosion on Russia cause the radioactive drift to be blown over them before everyone else? It is strange to fathom why peoples who are as kind as the citizens of the combined West to demonstrate to free Palestine is not hooking the two up; Palestine and Ukraine. Why free Palestine to walk into a nuclear holocaust? Why not protest on the streets for an end to wars!
Much is happening at a tempo fast enough to spell the end of humanity. Even the Russians are being pushed to utter threats that will more than end the war. In the Hamas-Israel War Netanyahu is causing reason to flee. The Orthodox Jews are threatened with conscription. The war is fast depopulating Israel. But polls are showing that Israelis are not against the war as is. A holocaust for the Palestinians is no reason to reminisce of their past. Its like a playground tryst: its now your turn. That the Palestinians are blameless has little to do with this tableau! Has Reality TV taken over the world?
4 July 2024
Askiah Adam is a JUST member and former JUST Executive Director