The war in Ukraine, injustice and hypocrisy
If the year 2020 was internationally known was the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, year 2022 has been dominated by the war in the Ukraine. The ongoing conflict/war has divided the world into conflicting power blocs and has served as a convenient cover to ignore other ongoing atrocities in different parts of the world.
Through January and February 2022, Russian president Putin had been warning the US and its European partners in the NATO military alliance, that Russia would not permit Ukraine becoming a member of NATO. According to the Russian president, such a move would bring US and NATO missiles and troops to Russia’s doorstep. This he said, was a red line not to be crossed. When in Russian eyes, it became apparent that neither the US nor NATO were paying heed to concerns raised, on 24 February Russia invaded Ukraine.
The US reacted rushing in military hardware, promising billions of dollars to support Ukraine’s campaign to beat back the invader. The US also imposed sanctions on Russia including its oil and gas exports. . Nearly eleven months later today, the shockwaves of the war in Ukraine is rocking Europe’s energy supplies and world food markets in previously unimagined ways. Despite Europe’s dependence on relatively cheap Russian gas and oil to meet energy requirements, West European countries surprisingly joined the US in sanctioning purchases of Russian gas.
According to the ‘George C. Marshal European Center for Security Studies, EU’s 27 members currently rely on Russia for almost 38% of their imported natural gas.The sanctions have left Europe facing a winter’s freeze without a credible alternative source of fuel to meet their energy needs.
Again, more than a quarter of the world’s wheat exports come from Russia and Ukraine. Countries facing humanitarian crises such as Somalia and Yemen are dependent on UN handouts to provide basic food requirements to their populations. As a result of the war, stocks of wheat remain in warehouses as sea routes are blocked due to the ongoing war.This column condemns the use of force and armed aggression wherever and by whomever. The West and America may feel justified in punishing Russia for its transgression of invading Ukraine and have imposed a variety of sanctions against Russia and its people.
What is wrong and unforgivable however, are the double standards adopted by both the US and the West regarding worse atrocities committed by other nations in different parts of the world. For instance -Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine over the past seventy odd years.
The UN has called on Israel to withdraw from Occupied Palestine Territories (OPT). But even today, Israel continues evicting Palestinians from their homes and lands, while expanding Israeli settlements and forcibly occupying homes and agricultural lands belonging to Palestinians -cocking a snook at the UN and its demands. On March 25 this year in a press release the UN Special Rapporteur on the ‘Situation of Human Rights in OPT’ said: “Israel has imposed upon Palestine an apartheid reality, in a post-apartheid World”.
According to UNICEF 2022 has also been the deadliest year for Palestinians. At least 105 Palestinians, including 26 children, were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Even worse, the US uses its veto power to block even the mildest criticism of Israeli atrocities in Palestine at the UN Security Council.
Today, while the world is reeling under the effects of the war in Ukraine; the US is pouring arms and ammunition into Taiwan, provoking China and promoting the idea of Taiwanese independence. Perhaps the US fears China’s rise as an economic and military super power. But, this is the way of the world, as Tennyson says in “Morte d’ Arthur “-the old order changeth yielding to the new.
A rising China and a resurgent Russia pose a challenge to US hegemony and this is good. But it’s not to say that either China or Russia are morally better. But it holds out an alternative to today’s situation of a sole super power and a world held in subjugation The world order is changing. It is time we citizens of the world demand our leaders and the powers that be, pour money and material into standing up for justice, ending long-running situations of injustice, expend more time and resources in areas facing humanitarian crises. It is time to end jostling for power and drop hypocritical pretences.