AS 2022 draws to a close, the world bears the tragic burden of the war in Ukraine. It began on Feb 24, with the Russian invasion of its neighbour. It has been 10 months. There is nothing to indicate that it will end any time soon.
Thousands have perished – soldiers and civilians. A huge number of people have been injured and maimed. Both Russian and Ukrainian prisoners have been subjected to torture.
Accompanying the deaths and suffering is the destruction of infrastructure. A nuclear facility in Ukraine has been caught in the crossfire, thus enhancing the danger of a nuclear conflagration. This has been exacerbated by reckless threats over the deployment of nuclear weapons by combatants. The world has not been this close to such a confrontation since the end of the Cold War in 1991.
The Ukraine war has also been a huge boon to arms merchants. Billions of dollars of weapons have been rushed to Ukraine by the United States and other Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) members. In some instances, they have helped to advertise new varieties of combat tools.
The war has also had a severe impact on the global food supply chain, brought about largely by the sanctions imposed upon Russia by the US and some of its allies as a way of punishing the former. However, the actual victims of these sanctions are the poor in countries of the global south.
The Ukraine war has also aggravated global inflationary trends – already evident before the war. Global inflation is affecting millions of people. Economies are stagnating because investment flows are slowing down, yet another consequence of the war. This affects the generation of jobs and employment patterns, even in countries far from the war zone.
The war’s impact upon both long-standing and more recent political crises has also been telling. Kashmir is still under occupation, and yet it is receiving less attention from the media because of another war more closely linked to powerful global actors.
Likewise, Palestine erupts every other day because of harsh Israeli aggression but the world is preoccupied with Ukraine, mainly because it is the present epicentre of the struggle for global hegemony. Then there is Somalia, Eritrea and Peru, among other conflicts. Each is significant in its own way. But they have been pushed to the margins by the tragedy in Ukraine.
I shall end this section of my analysis by highlighting three other major events, each of which should have received more attention.
The first is the popular uprising in Pakistan following the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan in April by a segment of the military core, working hand in glove with political leaders, backed to the hilt by specific elites in Washington.
The Pakistani people know that this was a blatant regime change operation because Imran was more inclined towards pursuing an independent foreign policy for his country, with stronger ties to Beijing and Moscow.
The hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Pakistanis who have come out to protest since April represent the mass expression of democratic aspirations seldom seen in any society in the world. This outpouring of sentiment was further reinforced by sweeping by-election victories by Imran’s party, the Tehreek-i-Insaf in July. Imran and his party are demanding that free and fair elections be held immediately to allow the people to decide on who should rule Pakistan.
While there has been some coverage of the people’s uprising in the media, its underlying significance has not been given the focus it deserves for an obvious reason. The uprising represents a direct challenge to the politics of regime change, which is one of the primary weapons in the arsenal of those who seek to run the world.
Let us now turn to yet another event involving Pakistan’s neighbour, Afghanistan. When the Taliban regained power in Kabul in August 2021, after 20 years of US misrule, the defeated American elite retaliated by freezing financial assets belonging to the Afghan people kept in the country’s Central Bank. Worth at least US$7 billion (RM31 billion), the US government placed this money in September under the authority of a so-called independent panel, over which the Taliban or the Afghan people have no say.
In reality, it is still the US government that will decide how or when the money will be unfrozen and for what purpose it would be used. This is a travesty of justice. Even United Nations officials in Kabul have criticised the move. They feel that part of the money should be used to feed millions of Afghanis who are suffering from hunger and malnutrition. It is highly immoral to manipulate money belonging to the Afghan people in order to avenge one’s defeat and fulfil a larger hegemonic agenda in the region.
This brings us to the third event that should be high on our radar. The mass hunger and suffering in parts of East Africa, a region that covers Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan. UK independent charitable organisation Oxfam estimates that one person is likely to die every 36 seconds in that region partly because of acute hunger and extreme poverty. Across East Africa, six million children suffer from malnutrition.
The underlying causes for the plight of the people are varied. Drought linked to climate change, local-level conflicts and escalating food prices brought about by a number of reasons, one of them being the war in Ukraine. The war also explains to an extent why humanitarian funding for the region is far below the target. There is a gap of more than US$3 billion.
There have been other important happenings which have been given emphasis they deserve by the media. For example, the climate crisis. Freezing winter storms in the US this month have come as a shock to many. The media should have also given as much attention to yet another climate change disaster – the massive flooding in Pakistan from June to October that resulted in one-third of the country being submerged in water.
The media continues to accord appropriate attention to the Covid-19 pandemic. Though its overall impact is much less in 2022, many people in the global north and south remain deeply concerned about a disease whose origin remains a mystery. People ask, is it linked in some way to unfolding geopolitical challenges?
When we reflect upon all that has happened in 2022, the various happenings can be classified into two categories.
One, those that are directly linked to the war in Ukraine, and two, those that have been overshadowed by the war and yet call for resolution in the larger interest of humanity. There are also a couple of events that fall outside the two categories. Everything considered, Ukraine remains at the vortex of humanity’s concerns in 2022.
The world realises why it is so urgent to bring the fighting to an end and to work out a diplomatic solution to the conflict. There have been attempts in that direction.
In the early months of the conflict, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church tried to mediate. He was followed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in his capacity as the then Chair of G20 (Group of Twenty). Widodo met with the main protagonists on both sides of the divide and pleaded for the cessation of the conflict.
Civil society groups have also offered ideas on ending the war. NGOs Code Pink and Common Dreams have articulated their thoughts on a peace initiative.
Two of my friends (Richard Falk and Joseph Camilleri) and I also launched a call to end the war in Ukraine through a public document entitled “To all who care about humanity’s and the planet’s future”. The document not only discusses the perilous situation the world is in but also analyses the underlying causes of global friction and tension. It suggests solutions to both the Ukraine war and the conflict over Taiwan, and proposes concrete steps that can be taken to create a world that is not burdened by hegemonic politics, a world distinguished by just and equitable relations between nations and communities.
Towards this end, it advocates the reversal of the militarisation of the international system and espouses far-reaching reforms of international institutions. The document recognises that there has to be “a massive global awakening of human wisdom and energy”.
Richard, Joe and I then invited a number of individuals to endorse the document on Aug 27. Forty-four of them, comprising some of the world’s leading civil society personalities, public intellectuals and activists, responded positively. With their endorsement, the document went public.
The citizens of the world were invited to join the effort to stop wars, reduce global tensions and build a world committed to justice and compassion in which the dignity of all creation is the primary goal of all human endeavour. To date, 3,646 people have signed up on Change.org.
In spite of our effort and the endeavours of others, peace moves have not made a dent so far. While there are many reasons that explain the continuance of the Ukraine war, the absolutist position adopted by the antagonists appears to be a formidable obstacle.
For the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, his initial aim was to dissuade Ukraine from joining Nato, which would have brought Nato to his country’s doorstep and perhaps threatened its security. But as the fighting became more complicated, with massive Western and Nato military assistance to Ukraine, he seems more determined now to emasculate his neighbour completely.
Similarly, Ukraine and its backers were concerned with defending Ukraine’s sovereignty, but as Ukraine began to repel the Russian invasion, its backers began to feel that they would be able to confront and defeat the Russian armed forces, and seize the opportunity to destroy Russia’s military might once and for all.
The extreme positions adopted by both sides are unrealistic and dangerous. Ukraine is not going to disappear from the map, and neither is it possible to crush the Russian nation. A prolonged war will only increase the suffering of both Ukrainians and Russians, and other Europeans.
With winter setting in and the energy crisis looming large on the horizon, the toll upon lives and lifestyles can become unbearable. This is the time for both sides to concede and compromise. They should move away from hard-line positions and work towards a negotiated settlement.
The world, especially civil society groups, should convey this message to all parties involved. There is no way that anyone can score a decisive victory in this conflict. This is why it is better to sue for peace now.
Dr Chandra Muzaffar is the president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), Malaysia. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
