On the Margin | India re-asserts strategic autonomy
Categories: Politics news
Washington has failed to push India into taking a stand against Moscow in the ongoing US-Russia confrontation, where Ukraine is a victim of both the superpowers. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is indefensible, as war or the use of military force is unacceptable as a means of dispute resolution. Equally indefensible is the US and the US-led West using Ukraine as bait to set the bear trap of the war, in which Russia has now got snared. It is terrible enough that Ukraine became willing cannon fodder in an entirely avoidable war, only to realise that neither the US nor Europe had the least intention of joining Ukraine in its military resistance against Russia; or embracing Ukraine as a member of NATO. And, Europe is sharply divided on the issue of EU membership for Ukraine. There is little left for Ukraine to cling to its delusion of being “European”; or, a frontline state of the “international community” and the world’s democracies that is required to stand up to the Big Bad Bear that is Russia. At a distance, India could see the senselessness of Ukraine not retreating from the brink—which Kyiv could have done by making plain its intention to stay out of NATO—and being made to serve as bait in the US-led geopolitical games against Russia. There is no way Vladimir Putin or any other Russian leader in his place would have countenanced Ukraine—some 300 kms from Moscow—emerging as a frontline NATO state and, consequently, a military base for the US. Besides India, other major countries that have refused to go along with the US in its conflict with Russia include China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Israel. This is attributed to the US efforts to isolate Russia, including by waging economic war, for maintaining its own supremacy in global affairs; and, this conflict predates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The US has many scores to settle with Russia, and not all of its allies in Europe are with Washington on these. For instance, Europe has refused to join the US on sanctions against importing oil from Russia, although the Continent has unanimously condemned the invasion of Ukraine. Europe, like Ukraine, does not want to be trapped in the US war for supremacy over Russia. Countries that have not picked sides in this US-Russia conflict that triggered the invasion of Ukraine have a better chance of mediating an acceptable solution to avoid another Afghanistan-like situation, but in Europe and with Russia mired in it.