While Ukraine is being flattened, Kviv, Mariupol, Khakiv and Lviv bombarded, the rest of the world seems to be doing nothing but talk, talk, talk … at the UN, at NATO HQ, at Brussels, at the International Court of Justice, in the columns of the NYT, WSJ, UK Economist, Le Figaro and on the screens of CNN, SKY, ABC and BBC….
A friend of mine in Toronto, Canada, who hates Putin sent me this WhatsApp message:
“Putin is definitely a brilliant strategist. He has systematically and repeatedly tried to weaken and undermine the West. But in his invasion of Ukraine he seems to have achieved exactly the opposite, managing to unite most of the international community in its condemnation of Russia’s aggression toward its neighbor.
“NATO is united — more so than at any point since the Soviet collapse — with a renewed sense of purpose and mission. So too is the European Union: Germany supports ending their economic dependence on Russia and is nearly doubling their defense spend; France is on board. Even Moscow-tilting Hungary has condemned the invasion, favored a crippling sanctions regime, and is allowing in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees. Putin is really brilliant. He has helped West achieve all their objectives. If he was a football player, he will score a dozen same side goals and help his opponents win.“
Many in the world today think like him… They think if Putin is removed, there will be peace in Europe. How mistaken they are. So. I sent a reply back to my friend:
“Think again if you think that the West now stands united.
“If they had been indeed united by now NATO war planes would’ve imposed a No-Fly zone over all of Ukraine, sent two aircraft carriers to Crimea and an army corps of tanks and heavy artillery rolling into the Donbass and even threatening to cross over across the border into Russia… all like they did in Kuwait from where you fled to Canada in 1990 …
“And yes, if the Western alliance is united today they would surely by now have maneuvered the UNGA to issue a UN Resolution approving the so-called “international community’s ” attack on “rogue-terrorist-state Russia” to defend the territorial integrity of Ukraine….
“And if the UNGA failed to pass such a resolution , the USA, UK and maybe some countries like Poland and Baltic countries would still have ganged up and, on the pretext of protecting Ukraine from “chemical warfare” launched by Russia —- or from the “credible and imminent threat of a nuclear strike by Russia on Ukraine” that U.S. and UK Intelligence has been able to gather and is warning about — would have by now jointly declared war on Russia and begun combat hostilities.
“In fact such a ganging-up is very likely to happen even now very soon if the war drags on for another few weeks... or months”.
“The ganging-up will of course be hailed by many like you living in the West as a great exhibition of the will and might of free and democratic societies of the world.
Extract from Wikipedia:
“If only the world had any understanding of recent history , it wouldn’t forget what happened in 2003 when there was a gang-up against Iraq …
Accusing Iraq of failing to abide by the terms of the 1991 cease-fire (by developing and possessing weapons of mass destruction and by refusing to cooperate with UN weapons inspections) and of supporting terrorism, the president and other officials suggested that the war on terrorism might be expanded to include Iraq and became more forceful in their denunciations of Iraq for resisting UN arms inspections, called for regime change in Iraq, and leaked news of military planning for war. President Bush also called on the United Nations to act forcefully against Iraq or risk becoming irrelevant. As a result, Iraq announced in Sept., 2002, that UN inspectors could return, but Iraqi slowness to agree on inspection terms and U.S. insistence on stricter conditions for Iraqi compliance stalled the inspectors’ return.
In October, Congress approved the use of force against Iraq, and in November the Security Council passed a resolution offering Iraq a final opportunity to cooperate on arms inspections. A strict inspections timetable was established, and active Iraqi compliance insisted on. Inspections resumed in late November. A December declaration by Iraq that it had no weapons of mass destruction was generally regarded as incomplete and uninformative, but by Jan., 2003, UN inspectors had found no evidence of forbidden weapons programs. However, they also indicated that Iraq was not actively cooperating with their efforts to determine if previously known or suspected weapons had been destroyed and weapons programs had been ended.
Despite much international opposition, including increasingly rancorous objections from France, Germany, and Russia, the United States and Britain continued their military buildup in areas near Iraq, insisting that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Turkey, which the allies hoped to use as a base for a northern front in Iraq, refused to allow use of its territory, but most Anglo-American forces were in place in Kuwait and other locations by March. After failing to win the explicit UN Security Council approval desired by Britain (because Britons were otherwise largely opposed to war), President Bush issued an ultimatum to Iraqi president Hussein on Mar. 17, and two days later the war began with an air strike against Hussein and the Iraqi leadership. Ground forces (almost exclusively Anglo-American and significantly smaller than the large international force assembled in the first war) began invading the following day, surging primarily toward Baghdad, the southern oil fields, and port facilities; a northern front was opened by Kurdish and airborne Anglo-American forces late in March.
By mid-April, 2003, Hussein’s army and government had collapsed, he himself had disappeared, and the allies were largely in control of the major Iraqi cities. The allies gradually turned their attention to the rebuilding of Iraq and the establishment of a new Iraqi government, but progress toward that end was hampered by lawlessness, especially in Baghdad, where widespread looting initially had been tolerated by U.S. forces.
On May 1, President Bush declared victory in the war against Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction were found, leading to charges that U.S. and British leaders had exaggerated the Iraqi biological and chemical threat in order to justify the war. Much of the intelligence used to justify the war subsequently was criticized as faulty by U.S. and British investigative bodies. Hussein finally was captured in Dec., 2003. In 2004, he was transferred to Iraqi legal custody; tried and convicted of crimes against humanity, he was executed in 2006. In the aftermath of the war, U.S.-led occupation forces and, later, Iraqi security forces, struggled for several years with Iraqi and Islamic insurgencies and sectarian violence that military and civilian planners had failed to foresee (see Iraq).
End of Extract
Putin or no Putin … the West has destroyed Ukraine like it destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan .There is no right or wrong: like it is often said, war is not about what is right; it’s about what is left.
Yes,, I know, two past wrongs cannot make the present wrong right.
Yeah … we must tell that to the Ukrainians now in Kyiv and Lviv who are being bombed… night and day…. It might give them some comfort…
Why is the Western world NATO not sending its own troops into Ukraine ? To answer that question , one has to read and understand History … but the world doesn’t really care for the big picture . It only wants to believe that Putin is a heartless cruel thug killing innocents.
But then many are so confused and ask themselves: “Why would the West and NATO and escalate the conflict into a bigger war ? Putin began this war ; Putin and Russia will be in deep trouble by the time this conflict ends. Russia will become a satellite state under Chinese orbit and its economy will regress back some 50 years. Misery to poor Russian people. No question the entire world will suffer as post-Cold war economic benefits of peacetime will be lost forever. I feel sad. Only the future will determine what really happens. I sincerely hope I am wrong and something positive comes out of this conflict.
And thus the arguments go on, back and forth in the world ….
Nobody is really arguing really about the morality of the war … War is evil , it is a tragedy and a disaster … Period. No argument about it all … and I’m not also arguing that Russia is the one who is guilty of starting it …
But that is not what the real argument really is all about …
The argument really ought to be about the amount of blame , guilt and culpability that is to be apportioned upon the USA and its European allies ..
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being maximum culpability , the world seems to be giving the USA and its allies a score of maybe 2 or 3. Whereas I give the USA a score of 8.75 . So, if you understand that well , then you will find getting the big picture about this war is not all that difficult.
I can only see one thing positive to come out of this war … Western imperialism will realize that there are some clear limits for expansion in the world.
*************
Now , for some personal reminiscing ….
I have visited Ukraine several times on work during 2011-14…. Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa. I have driven through villages cross-country right from Kviv all the way to Odessa by road. I have travelled in the West right up to Ternopil almost on the border of Poland. I have fond memories of the country. It breaks my heart to watch that country go to pieces daily on my TV news screen.
I just remembered one evening in 2013 in Kyiv when my colleague and good friend Igor Afansiev took me along with him to an Orthodox Church somewhere down Kryeshchatyk Street where an excellent piano / organ concert performance was conducted. Excellent pieces from Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and other masters were performed. I greatly enjoyed that evening. It made me realize the place of Kyiv in Euro-Russian history.
And later that week , when we were in Lviv , Igor took me for dinner in an underground Ukrainian Nationalist restaurant — Криївка (Kryivka, or “hiding place”, referring to secret underground bunkers from the times of the Ukrainian nationalist resistance to Soviets post WWII). The interior décor was made up with images and portraits of the past Ukrainian-Polish civil war with Russians. The waitresses were dressed in battle fatigues with rifles slung around their shoulders … One of the pretty waitresses handed me and Igor a rifle to handle for fun. I held it up and felt like a revolutionary myself! The music that blared in the background was all patriotic Ukrainian songs. (see pics)
RIght at the entrance to the restaurant the security had refused entry for me … He was a big thuggish looking bouncer. He gruffly told Igor that there was no entry for foreigners . Igor spoke to the security man telling him that I was from India and was his honored guest… The security man looked at me shiftily and muttered “How do I know this Indian is not Russian spy?”. Igor spoke something to the man again … I don’t know what … but then both laughed and I was allowed to enter the restaurant with Igor.
The restaurant was dimly lit like a military underground bunker … See the pictures. I could hardly see past my nose … The music and the conversation inside at the tables were loud … all Ukrainian customers drinking alcohol and typical Ukrainian food …
I was vegetarian… Igor ordered something for me … The waiter was surprised .. and scratched his head asking what the hell was a vegetarian meal ? Finally something was ordered and served for me … It was terrible …!
But I enjoyed the visit to the bunker restaurant Kryivka in Lviv very much … had a great time ! I do hope it has not been bombed out now….
Later that night , we came out of the restaurant and strolled down the streets of Lviv. We stopped at corner where a Ukrainian street vendor was selling fresh and hot roasted chestnuts … Igor bought some chestnuts packed in a paper-bag and we both carried on strolling while munching the delicious fresh chestnuts !
Next morning, the Directors of the Saudi Arabian company of which I was the CFO invited me to join them all for a curated tour of Lviv downtown just a short distance away from Hotel Leopolis where we were all staying. I happily went along and took in the quaint old Europe sights of Lviv. I pulled out some photos of that trip from old private album and I share them here in this blogpost. Our tour guide was a pretty Lvivian girl called Tatiana, if I remember right. Her English was halting but she knew the history of her city well and was able to narrate it to us engagingly. We then all walked into a streetside cafe for pastry and coffee… It was a lovely afternoon in Lviv.
I weep for thee Lviv…. I have good memories of the time I spent with you. Be safe and God bless you!
Sudarshan Madabushi
