The world is bleeding profusely, both politically and economically due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The most perturbing fact is that though every nation is feeling the effect of the conflict none has taken any definitive action to end the war. While America along with other western countries has shown more interest in cornering ‘oppressive’ Russia, China has stood firmly behind its former communist cousin claiming that the stand taken by the US and its allies is part of Washington’s larger conspiracy to establish world hegemony. With every passing day, both sides are hardening their stands and the situation is fast threatening to snowball into a larger crisis with more and more countries joining. Clearly, it is time for the United Nations (UN) to douse the fire by bringing the warring sides to the negotiation table in-order to find a lasting solution to the conflict.
It is sad to note that while the UN has largely remained a silent spectator, every nation has tried to use the prevailing situation in their favour. The European countries, which are openly at the forefront of imposing an economic sanction on Russia under the insistence of the US, are still purchasing oil and gas from Moscow and in the process helping Moscow to keep its economy steady despite being engaged in a war. Moreover, instead of trying to decrease tensions, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), an America led-alliance have recently included Sweden and Finland to put further pressure on Russia. These countries are also supplying sophisticated and modern arms to Ukraine to help it put up a stiff resistance against Russian forces. Clearly, this has upset the calculations of Moscow, which was confident in its efforts to reestablish its stronghold on Ukraine, with a short but effective military intervention. As the wait is getting longer, Russia may soon take steps to cut the supply lines of Ukraine by attacking other nations helping Kiev in the war. If Moscow decides to go on an all-out attack against its adversaries, the situation will definitely exacerbate the issue further and may cause large-scale global destruction.
The prolonged war is nothing but a struggle for hegemony between the US and its allies and the Russia-China axis, which is in no mood to tolerate Washington’s big brother attitude. Thus, it is time now for other nations to come forward in protest against being used as pawns by the powerful nations and to prevent the spread of neo-imperialism. Both America and Russia should be told in no uncertain terms to stop their medieval actions of attempting to expand their empire’s influence in ignorance of the plight of the people. Citizens of the world need to put pressure on their respective governments to urge the two superpowers of the world to put an end to the ravages of political warfare.
