Zohaib Tariq
One of many reasons, apart from assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, for the start of world war one was consistent military buildup between Germany and Britain, as both see themselves as competitors in global markets, thus the military buildup by either side created a state of security dilemma between both sides, which ultimately resulted in a war. Similarly, same security dilemma was persistent between Ukraine and Russia as the former was interested in joining NATO, which would resultantly make western powers reaching doorsteps of Russia, as Moscow is approximately five hundred kilometres from Ukrainian border, while the flatlands of Ukrainian-Russian border would make Moscow’s defence against NATO’s at a strategic disadvantage. Thereby, Russia acted preemptively and invaded Ukraine on 24th February, 2022. Not to mention the fact that ever since Zelensky, the current president of Ukraine, came to power, he had a tilt toward the west and was pushing Ukraine into the western bloc by different tactics, he shutdown Russian TV shows, arrested a close friend of Putin and charged him with treason which added to insecurities of Moscow against Ukraine and increased the security dilemma in the region. Another perspective to the current Russia-Ukraine war is that Russia was supplying for energy needs of European countries, mainly Germany, which created rifts between US and EU as Russian economic backbone was its energy resources which it supplied to global markets, and US did not wanted its rival Moscow to become economically sustainable while its allies such as EU being financially dependent on Russia. Therefore, its is perceived as that it was US interests, particularly because of its military industrial complex and global capitalism that it a war in Ukraine and containing Russia into for a significant period of time was its core objective, and that is perhaps why US was pushing the narrative to include Ukraine into NATO, which would outrage Moscow, to invade Ukraine. John Mearsheimer, an International Relations scholar belonging to realist school of thought, blames Washington for provoking Moscow to invade Ukraine and he held US responsible for it. He argues that US was well aware of the fact that giving Ukraine the membership of NATO is, as is terms of then US ambassador to Moscow, William Burns (the current director of CIA), was the “brightest of all redlines” for Russia, but still US pushed Ukraine to join NATO. It is all because of US, military industrial complex and global capitalism which is the reason US provoked this war. US continues to work to contain and weaken Russia by engaging it in Ukraine for a significant period of time while its military industrial complex benefits from the war. According to a recent report, Western countries will deliver more than 300 tanks to Ukraine, Kyiv’s ambassador to France said Friday. “As of today, numerous countries have officially confirmed their agreement to deliver 321 heavy tanks to Ukraine,” Vadym Omelchenko told French TV station and CNN affiliate BFM television. The figure from Omelchenko comes after the US this week pledged to provide 31 M1 Abrams tanks and Germany agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 A6s.The decision to deliver the M1 Abrams tanks was announced just hours after Germany said it would send 14 of its Leopard 2 tanks to the battlefield. Previously the United Kingdom has pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks, while Poland has asked for approval from Germany to transfer some of its own German-made Leopard 2s to Ukraine.Previous military aid, like the American HIMARS rocket system was delivered to Ukraine. North Korea accused the United States and its allies of “further crossing the red line” by sending tanks to Ukraine.
The US has a “sinister intention to realize its hegemonic aim by further expanding the proxy war for destroying Russia,” said Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in a statement run by North Korean media on Friday. The European Union alongside US will continue to supply Ukraine with weapons the cycle of global capitalism will repeat. As a result more misery and distractions to wage on in the Eastern European countryside. It is about time to resolve all disagreements through dialogue and diplomacy as per the international norms. .
The writer is a graduate of London School of Economics and a former Research analyst at Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [email protected]