The War Between Russia and Ukraine

The War Between Russia and Ukraine

By: Deji Yesufu

I have just read Sunday Adelaja’s Facebook post. He says all out war has broken out between Ukraine and Russia. Adelaja is a Nigerian pastor living in Kiev, Ukraine. He says from his home, he can hear shelling and bombs going off some distance away. Welcome to war, friends. But as we watch thing work out in Eastern Europe, here are my thoughts on the situation.

Foreign policy among countries has always been one of dominance. The more you bring people under your sovereign, the stronger you are as a country. The Greek and Roman empires expanded through military conquering and dominance. Napoleon Bonaparte was the last world leader that sought a similar domination but failed ultimately. After Bonaparte, the world began to look away from domination to association. Rather than a country ruling other countries, what we now have are union of countries.

The idea of union of nations is actually one of the fruit of the democratic experiment of the United States. America is a conglomerate of 50 nation states. So that after World War 2, which America played a major role in quelling, the USA brought her democratic experiment on nations by introducing the concept of United Nations. Since then, different countries have sought different association between themselves. The USA also forced many European nations, like Britain and France, to follow up their commitment to these new world principles by granting African countries independence from colonial rule. So that the end of WW2 also sparked the beginning of the end of colonial rule in Africa and Asia.

America and Russia fought on the same side in WW2 and defeated Germany. Though they had a common enemy, they possessed varied ideologies. America was capitalist; Russia – communist. Their differences sparked the cold war. The Cold War ended with the disbanding of the nations under the USSR in 1989. The USSR were countries, like the USA, banded together for a common good. America instigated the end of the USSR, leaving her as sole super power in the world. Russia despised this and Putin regarded it as the biggest failure of his country. With his rise to power, Putin has seen the return of the USSR as his sole ambition. Ukraine was formerly in the USSR. Then the impossible began to happen.

Ukraine, now an independent country, in the past few years has been hobnobbing with the NATO. NATO is a conglomerate of European countries and the USA. The association seeks mutual economic and military ties. As Ukraine sought to join NATO, Putin sent out a strong warning: He would be caught dead if Ukraine, a former USSR nation, a nation with people possessing close ties with Russia, joins NATO. Rather than Ukraine going, he will invade that country and bring her back under the rule of Russia.

You may think this is wrong but looking at things from the perspective of Russia and Putin, you cannot blame Putin too much. Truth is that countries ought to respect each other. America knows about Putin’s ambition, yet they take steps at bringing a former USSR country under them. America knows that Russia is a country that can call their bluff and enter into full blown war and thus, now that Ukraine is invaded, the best the USA can do is impose sanctions, and cry diplomatic wolf. Russia will invade Ukraine and bring her under their rule and the world will do nothing.

The other option is that NATO may launch an attack on Russia. If that happens, welcome to Third World War.