The geopolitical idleness about Ukraine

When the Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the ‘special operation’ in Ukraine on February 22; the world did not take it as surprise rather it was deemed as something which was supposed to happen. Since the war began, the western mainstream media began blaming Russia as an aggressor by calling it as an invasion of the sovereign state. However, the reality is beyond this because as an expert of international affairs, I believe that throughout history Russia’s approach towards its Western borders has always been geopolitical. Perhaps, this is a crude fact, which the western mainstream is ignoring out of ignorance. 

President Putin has been warning the west about Russia’s gross geopolitical concerns concerning the NATO’s eastward expansion for a very long time. For instance, during his speech at the Munich Security Conference 2007, President Putin openly warned the United States and its European partners not to despise the Russia’s red lines across the western border. Putin said, “The unipolar world that had been proposed after the Cold War did not take place either. The history of humanity has gone through unipolar periods and seen aspirations to the World supremacy that always ended up in tragedy—It is the world in which there is one master, one sovereign. And, at the end of the day, this is pernicious not only for those within the system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within.”

With these words, Putin clearly expressed his dissatisfactions towards the American-led unipolar world order, which is jeopardizing geopolitical and strategic stability of the world. As an experts, I certainly believe that President Putin’s 2007 Munich conference speech was a turning point in the Russia’s foreign policy approach towards west. 

The first major event of this major foreign policy conversion was seen in 2014, when more than 90% Russian population in Crimea voted to rejoin the Russian Federation. The Crimean “annexation” which the mainstream media referred at that time send out shockwaves across the west. In the broader geopolitical domain, the annexation of Crimea was clear warning of Russia to West not to cross the Russia’s red lines.  Nonetheless, it was the western backed Maidan uprising (Euromaidan) in 2014, which compelled Russia to reorient its approach towards its western neighbor. Hence, the ongoing Russia’s confrontation with west in Ukraine cannot be understood without understanding Maidan. 

The maidan revolution was sparked by the far-right neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine, who were trained and supported by the American security agencies. Since then Russia has been warning the west about the genocide of Russian speaking population of the Donbass region in the hands Neo-Nazi Azov battalion. Unfortunately, since the Maidan uprising, the western mainstream media remained silent about the genocide of Russian speaking population in the eastern Ukraine. To be precise, this clearly illustrates the bigotry and misunderstanding of the western intelligentsia about the geopolitical and security concerns of Russia. 

Since the beginning of Russia’s war against the Neo-Nazi battalions in Ukraine, the western mainstream media began calling it Putin’s war against the sovereign state. On the contrary, if we analyze the conflict from the geopolitical lens, the western media seems bias about the ongoing war. From the top western media outlets such as BBC, CNN, FOX News, DW, and CNBC, the analysts are explaining the nature of the ongoing confrontation from the typical western point of view. Based on their feeble and unreasoned explanation, the western nations began imposing the toughest sanctions on the key sectors of the Russian economy. The question here is that! Will the sanctions only affect Russia? 

From the perspective of the global economy, the answer is “NO” because Russia is the largest trade partner of the European Union when it comes to the supply of the hydrocarbons. As one of the largest hydrocarbon producers, Russia has a great role in the economic development and prosperity of the European nations. In the latter perspective, I believe that the breakdown of the world order will occur because of two factors: the declining American power and dysfunctional Europe, which seems happening now. 

Therefore, it is perfect time; Europe must rethink about its foreign and security policy approach towards Russia. Because since the last four decades, the Americanization of the European foreign and defense policy has been shattering the relationship of Europe with its close neighbor Russia. Instead of promoting the Russophobic hysteria on the American dictation, the European nations must think about the living reality of the modern-day geopolitics and the Russia’s sphere of influence in it. 

Europe must not forget the history that it was the Soviet Union not the United States, which sacrificed its 27 million population (on records) battling Nazis during the World War-II on two major fronts, that freed the world from the Nazi Plague. Europe must understand, its prolonged future lies with Russia not America both across the economic, political, and geopolitical lines. Perhaps, this is the perfect moment, the liberal plagued European statesman must abandon their geopolitical idleness concerning Russia and its sphere of influence.