FEB 27 — The world has changed forever.
As Russian tanks and troops roll into the Ukraine, we see the principle of national sovereignty which has underpinned security in the world for decades critically undermined.
The world now stands on the brink of unprecedented chaos.
That or statements along those lines is what we have been hearing from a lot of the world’s major media outlets in the wake of Russia’s military action in the Ukraine.
Obviously the attack on Ukraine is an egregious and hostile act by Russia.
Nations should not rain death and destruction on other nations and subject innocent civilians to needless suffering and slaughter; this goes without saying.
However, the problem is this should not apply only to this conflict — it should be all conflicts.
We should not be picking and choosing which brand of imperialism we root for and which we rail against. All imperialism is bad.
The truth is the military action in Ukraine is not the largest, most deadly conflict going on in the world today let alone a historically major conflict.
Dozens of civilians and fighters die in Yemen every day and they’ve been dying like this for years. This too is a war of aggression waged by a stronger nation and its allies on a much weaker nation.
Some commentators would then argue that this is different — that Russia is a powerful nation using military force against a weaker sovereign state.
The US and its allies violated the sovereignty of Iraq, Libya and Syria. In these cases, the West, their allies and proxies ripped into and effectively destroyed sovereign nations.
Countries like the USA are now accepting refugees from the Ukraine when they’ve been far less willing to accept refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Afghanistan was plundered and bombed for decades. With billions of dollars of contracts handed out and virtually nothing achieved for decades — but again not too many people seem to be standing up for Afghanistan.
And we dont hear calls to investigate corruption and war crimes that might have been committed over 20 years of bombing and trillions of dollars of spending.
There is nothing wrong with siding with an underdog nation being attacked by a bigger one. I, too, find the footage of elderly Ukrainian women standing their ground moving and heart wrenching but I also wonder where was the rush to stand in solidarity with Yemen or Palestine when they too were attacked by more powerful nations?
We need to push back against all oppression. If you find yourself following this invasion, posting on social media and calling for an end to atrocities, then keep doing that for all the wars, invasions and attacks all around the world.
One of the darkest dangers of the present news cycle is that the media isn’t providing us with ongoing coverage and perspectives of these wars.
The real world is not a movie — anyone who has moved for war anywhere is a bad guy. There are no good guys.
It is the nuances — the coups, corruption, the broken treaties, unkept promises and failures of leadership — that lead to war.
Without real analysis and coverage, there’s no chance to get to the reflection and reform that might lead to prevention or reduction of these conflicts. And that is truly tragic, for all of us.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
