This Article is written by Meher (a fourth-year BBA LLB Student at Christ University Bangalore)
INTRODUCTION:
My world, our world is nearing its end. Not due to some extraneous factors but due to the wars that never seem to end. The wars which do not have a purpose, cause or direction will end the world soon before we realize it. The world has been experiencing dangerous transformations over the past decade. As if the present exploitations like inequality, climate change and other crises were not enough we have wars everywhere now. Bloodshed, disastrous uprooting of cities, and institutional and functional disorders have become the vicious trends over the world. This proves that the world did not evolve for the better but it was stuck with the scars from the world war era. The peace organizations and the coming together of nations seem to be in vain. Well, there are other unimportant issues for such organizations to attend to, war might sort itself after a certain time. The post-pandemic world was supposed to have evolved into a more empathetic and kinder world due to the huge losses but it seems to have changed for the worst. The crises increased and continue as people are further reduced to tools in the bigger scheme of politics and war, territory and winning. It was never about people, some egomaniac has the guts to thrust their defence power on a country or a region and the world innocently has the audacity to just have a glance at the situation until it further deteriorates. Like all the other times before and times yet to come the war has unending and unforeseeable consequences and much more than bargained for. As we enter into another week of the war, Ukraine struggles to fight one of the new world order’s biggest invasions from Russia with lots at stake.
THE STORY SO FAR:
On February 24th, 2022 as Putin marched into Ukraine the world was left clueless. He termed it a “special military operation” but the scale and targets show that it is an outright invasion compromising on every international humanitarian and war law principle. Since then there are many tales of courage, invasion and sanctions from the western world emerging. But the war continues even after three weeks, straining all the resources of both the countries and the world. The war maps show how brutally Russia has invaded the country on all sides almost like a world war threat and Kyiv was the main target. This invasion is the largest war Europe has witnessed after World war II. The war was condemned in Russia by the civilians. Thousands protested against the war in Moscow leading to political repression. Since the invasion, there have been many casualties. One of the biggest problems is the refugees, thousands of people fleeing the country leaving their lives behind in a war-torn country. Nearly 10 million refugees fled from the country. The tiff started with Ukraine’s pro-European ideology. The deep-rooted ideological divide has been prevalent since the end of World War II. The geological position of Ukraine makes it an arena of war. Both the sides- NATO and the Warsaw Pact continue to build up their military position to keep themselves safe. But there are casualties now and then like in Ukraine. But this time it happens to impact the whole world order and supply chain. Among other things, there is also the threat of nuclear war and third world war.
ANALYSIS:
In 1991 Ukraine declared its independence from Soviet domination and relieved itself from the Communist system. The Soviet Union since then has dissolved into fifteen independent countries, dissolving the power of the Soviet sphere. Although the Cold war has ended, NATO was still going strong with the same alliance and it was increasing by the day. In 1994 Ukraine became a partner in NATO and in 2013 Ukraine was very near to bond ties with the European Union. But Ukraine’s pro-Russian government cancelled the deal even before realising the repercussion. Huge protests broke out, eventually leading to the dethroning of the President. This failure of the president marked the beginning of endless conflict. Starting with the Crimean occupation and annexation by the Russian government, led to a huge separatist movement. For years eastern Ukraine has been one of the highly militarized areas on the planet. Yet the tensions keep growing and there is more violence than ever. No ceasefire agreement could stop any of these tensions. In January 2022 the Russian troops moved in breaching every peace agreement and finally landed us here, the most brutal, inhumane war ever fought in history. The repercussions of this war are huge but the heaviest price like always is paid by the civilians. Their lives are ripped and there is no availability or access to basic necessities and they are displaced in a single day.
As we witness the war crimes every minute, we fear even discussing the fate of the civilians. Schools are bombed, soldiers are killed in their sleep and many more stories of horror. At the end of the day, we can’t decide who to blame. Is it the leader’s miscalculations and decisions or the separatists or the whole world itself? We start to doubt would the scenario be any different if Ukraine’s president would have agreed to not join NATO. What would be the scenario if Ukraine accepted Russia’s demands. Maybe there would be less war and more negotiation right now, but it has all passed. The West as usual is playing its own games, supplying the weapons, showing false hope. It has become a ritual for the Ukraine president to plead before every Parliament. But the war does not seem to end at all. The ties are further severed and the negotiations never seem to happen. The threats keep increasing with much more dangerous ballistic missiles and further disastrous casualties. The whole world is worried about the repercussions on commodities and the supply chain. But that should be the last of the worries. If anything the war has taught us never to depend on autocratic countries for necessities. The war showed us the need to redesign our supply chains and become more self-dependent.
Finally, coming to the people, who are the essential stakeholders of this war, are the worst hit. Both countries are losing their people. Even Russians fear the tyranny of such a leader and are moving to Europe and the refugees need no mention. If every decision is taken by considering the interest of the people we would not be at this stage. But that cannot be a foolproof mechanism, as the geopolitical and linguistic divides rule Ukraine. East Ukrainian separatists and other groups of different parts have different ideas as to how Ukraine should be as a country. Russia’s invasion further triggers such differences. So the war is not entirely Russia’s doing of invading. Whatever it is, at the end of the day the world is suffering due to this war, ranging from the wheat crisis to inflation. There are also other problems like russification, the beginning of world war III and many more yet to come. If at all there is world war III Asia will definitely remain neutral and non-aligned for the best interest of the world, we cannot estimate the fate of other countries. Meanwhile, Putin also conducted a nuclear evacuation drill in Russia. So, all is good with the war and people should keep fleeing the country to a safer place.
CONCLUSION:
There have been talks of negotiation and agreement. We can only pray that they come to realize before the war ends up being a nuclear threat to the world. There were chances of ceasefire when the tiff first began in January 2022, but now it is too far gone. There is no good way to end this war anymore. The damage has been done, Putin has thrown both the countries into a retro-future. The beginning of the war has seen some heroic resilience of the Ukrainian people and the courage of the nation and its people almost shrivelled the Russian armour. Their choice and courage are an inspiration to the rest of the world. But we fear that bravery is not enough to fight this escalating war. The three weeks of war only prove that Russia will not withdraw so easily and this catastrophic reality will haunt us all. If anything we can only pray for this slaughter to stop and wait for peace to take over. We do not have to pay with more lives and more destruction. This war will go down in history but there should be a faster end to this.
