By: Themneivah Sitlhou
A massive event that took place in 1900s named eventually as World War-1 and World War -2 has crumbled our flourish world history and left a great crash to its offsprings. There was a time where people were engaged only for daily bread. Very soon, the games of politics began. Politics is the struggle for power between two or more. There were various approaches which tried understanding and evaluating this power game. Such as realist approach and idealist approach. So, it was in 1950s after the end of world war a new independent discipline emerged known to be International Relations. The study of International Relation is very crucial as we are interdependent on one another in terms of economic aid, military support and moral values etc. One cannot stay isolated.
We can only understand international politics only once we understand our international relations. Nation is a primary actor. Using International Relation platform, nation strive to achieve its own objective which is marked as national interest. To our grief, the recent incident of Russia and Ukraine brimmed the world with the fear of another disastrous war. To put it simple, Ukraine was once part of USSR. With its disintegration, many newly nations were formed including Ukraine. There are many outcomes of war which differ from nation to nation. But what we have in common is the fear of weaker nations towards powerful ones. This fear compel us to build our security tighter. That is why nations are obssessed in building their military stronger by any means. National power which comprises of military, economic etc. is our nation’s identity. So even with the end of the two world war, we are left with the legacy of lust of power basically between two blocks mainly Russia led and US led, which we called cold war. Speaking of which, following the world war-2 , NATO was formed to safeguard the Allies freedom and security. US had a dominant role in it. In retaliation to this, War Saw pact was formed to strenghthen the soviet and to balance the power by counterweighting the NATO. As being mentioned earlier, USSR disintegrated but the seeds of cold war even grew deeper. Ukraine which was once in USSR wanted to join NATO in respect to its interest which is invincibly opposed by Russia. To brief it up, Ukraine consists of Russian speaking population mainly in Donetsk and Luhansk where Russia recognised them as independent. Also, the nord stream pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany which pass through Ukraine will be disrupted if Russia lost its influence. Most eminently, many nations which fall to bits from USSR have joined NATO that directly or indirectly question Russia of its power and influence. Behind all these reasons, Russia took Ukraine as a bet and want Ukraine to be neutral and combat Ukraine to be NATO members. As put forward by Putin, Russia had no intention in taking over Ukraine but use this war as its last resort to uphold its influence and rebel US and NATO.
India, as a nation which had good relation with both Russia and US, which are against each other over Ukraine, is looked upon by the world towards its decision against this issue. To analyse this matter, we could not forsake our past and deny our present. Not to forget our landmarked history of 1962 war with China and 1971 war with Pakistan. When India was crippled economically and militarily as a consequence of colonisation and partition, Russia took our helpless hand and help us stand to where we are today. Presently, we have a deal with Russia over S-400 missile. Also, Russia accounts 75% of India’s coffee export. On the other hand, India had a good relationship with western countries through look west policy basically with US in terms of trade etc. India is the largest democratic country. With the present scenerio, it is a wise decision of India to follow its national interest of NAM once again by abstaining its vote in the UN. Not able to turn back to Russia nor not being able to turn blind eye to Russia aggression against Ukraine, India should be very careful of its decision. To recap, India accepted the resolution of panchsheel in 1954 with China which consist of 5 principles that includes respect for sovereignty. India is constantly engaging in border conflict with our neighbouring countries. Future holds no sorts of good day nor bad day. So, to keep in mind our decision today will decide of our fortune or let us hold accountable in future.
What now and what is our way forward? We have been expecting for a swift action against Russia aggression. But what we see is none other than a moral support which anyone could do it easily from our comfort zone. The realistic hits hard. No nation would like to risk its national interest for the sake of kindness unless something beneficial is given. Russia is a super power nation that alone constitute 40% of oil supply to EU. US accounts 10% of Russia oil export and US imposed sanction on it. This is not the first time. There are many sanctions against Russia which includes CAATSA by US. As known to all, if Russia is not prepared for this it would not start its aggression at the first place. No one dares to stand against Russia fearing for their lose of power and international relation. Future holds nothing as certain but what we can expect and we have been facing after every war is, there is no winner in war. It will affect all of us in one way or the other. 7th March 2022 is marked as the highest rise in oil price for the last 14 years at $139.13 per barrel. In international relation, there is no permanent friends nor enemy. It is dynamic in nature. The world should upheld humanity over violence. Ukraine is a victim now and it can be anyone in future. The world should learn a lesson from this and take a swift action against this. What if there is no thirst of power, what if we uphold international norms and humanity, what if our common enemy were violence and war and not among ourselves , what if we had listened to Russia grievance better and what if we attend to Ukraine needs at an accurate time, this war would not have been an answer.
