Editorial-March 17, 2014
Crimea has, at Sunday’s referendum, overwhelmingly endorsed secession from Ukraine and joining Russia. Its verdict has come as no surprise. A vast majority of people in that part of Ukraine are of Russian descent. The knee-jerk reaction of the US has been to reject the outcome of the referendum and threaten sanctions against Russia. Russia could not have been unaware of the consequences of its action and is not likely to buckle under pressure.
Flaying the US and its allies for their hypocrisy, Russia has argued that they had no qualms about accepting Kosovo’s UDI and, therefore, have no moral right to reject the verdict of the people of Crimea. These countries have also effected regime changes in countries like Egypt and Libya to install puppet governments willing to be at their beck and call, to safeguard their interests. Besides, in 2009, it may be recalled, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown justified the British military campaign in Afghanistan, by claiming that it was a ‘patriotic duty’ to keep the streets of Britain safe from the threat of terrorist attacks. India once went so far as to induct troops in this country to protect its own interests on some flimsy pretext. Whatever the UN Charter may say, this is how powerful countries protect their interests; in dealing with small, weak nations, they always go by the axiom that might is right.
Russia is busy working towards the breakaway of Crimea to protect its national security interests; it needs the Crimean peninsula to be under its sway because of its Black Sea Fleet, among other things, the way the US is keeping Bahrain under its thumb for its Fifth Fleet to operate out of the region and maintain the US Navy’s Middle East presence. Unlike Bahrain, Crimea is in Russia’s backyard. The gravitation of Ukraine towards the European Union has also been a worrisome proposition for Russia, which is being systematically encircled by its enemies. Energy is another issue that has brought Russia and Ukraine on a collision course. Unfortunately, Ukraine failed to defy the EU pull and remain neutral; it became a pawn in a power game.
Interestingly, on Saturday, the US mustered the support of 13 members of the Security Council for a draft resolution against Crimea’s verdict being internationally recognised. Russia exercised its veto while China abstained. It is doubtful whether other permanent members of the Security Council would have acted in a different manner if their interests had been threatened. It was only the other day that the US, which came under heavy fire at the UN Human Rights Committee—not Council—tried to justify, inter alia, its deadly drone attacks responsible for killing many more civilians than terrorists, by claiming that they were consistent with international laws!
Breaking up states according to the whims and fancies of powerful countries is a dangerous practice which has to end. However, let the critics of Russia be asked to put their own house in order before condemning others. As for the Ukrainian crisis we see sinners hurling stones at one another!
The UN is too impotent to be a countervailing force against big powers as is common knowledge; it cowers before powerful nations which act with absolute impunity adopting as they do double standards while pontificating to others about the virtues of accountability, justice and fair play.
Today, we report that, according to a scientific study funded by NASA, modern civilisation is heading for collapse within a matter of decades owing to increasing economic instability and pressure on the planet’s resources. This doomsday prophecy is not to be taken lightly, given the alarming rate at which the world’s nonrenewable resources are being overexploited. Ominous signs of an impending disaster are already visible.
But, before a shortage of resources wreaks havoc on the world, civilization is likely to come to an end because of the dangerous games that world powers are playing to further their interests at the expense of global peace.
