Views /Opinion

The wise of Europe, unite!

A year passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Last Friday, 24th of February, marks the first anniversary of the war between the two neighbours.

Hundreds of thousands were killed (some conservative estimates talk of a quarter of a million killed). Around ten million Ukrainians fled the country or were displaced. Incalculable losses on both sides are mounting, yet the war rages on. Belligerent Russian leadership that will not budge, and a pro-Western Ukrainian government seeking endless European and American support to fight on until the defeat of Putin and his army.

The West justifies its unwavering support for Ukraine as a country that is fighting on behalf of the rest of Europe. Thus, the steadfastness of Ukraine is existential for the freedom and independence of the rest of Europe. The rest of the “West”; i.e. the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan view defending Ukraine as defending the principles of freedom and democratic values for which the “West” stands.

On the other hand, Russian explains its “Special Military Operation” as a defense of the “Motherland”, thus recalling the literature of the “Great Patriotic War”- WWII. The then Russian “Soviet Union” sacrificed between 25 to 30 million soviets to deter and defeat the Nazi invasion of the “Motherland” in 1941. 

Fighting continues unabated. Stands of all sides stiffen. Casualties mount on both sides, and the ghost of a Third World War nears. A third world war, perish the thought, that will surely destroy our planet.  

European Union flags outside of the EU Headquarters building in Brussels, Belgium.

The population of the Western World: Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia, is roughly equivalent to the population of India alone; about 1.3 billion. The rest of the world’s population (around 8 billion) have nothing to do with this  devastating war despite its global economic impact. Yet, these billions of passive humans can be the victim of a nuclear war that will spare no one on earth if unleashed mercilessly. 

Accordingly, the rest of humanity outside Russia and “The West” are appealing to the WISE of these countries to rise up for the sake of peace. It urges the grandchildren of Hitler, Stalin, De Gaulle, Mussolini, Churchill, and Trumann not to drag this world to the abys of a nuclear apocalypse. They are begging the “Wise of the West” not to allow room for insanity, megalomania, and the lust for power to destroy them and the rest of the world. 

I know and meet quite a few European and American academics and intellectuals with whom we discuss the Russian-Ukrainian war. Regrettably, a peaceful exit to the war is not dominant in their discussions. Peace is not a refrain when talking about this destructive mayhem. One is left bewildered: These are the grandchildren of WWII. The war ended merely 75 years ago. That is a “yesterday” in human history! Those who lived the inferno of that war must have told their grandchildren the miseries of WWII. The unprecedented horrors and casualties of sixty million dead, hundreds of millions more injured, fifty million displaced or made homeless in Europe alone. Whole cities, even countries, were completely wiped out. What lessons were learned from the calamities of WWII? Do they realize that wars start with “words of war”, and that Putin had repeatedly warned of the use of nuclear weapons if need be? In other words, the Russian army will never accept defeat in Ukraine even if Putin has to resort to the use of nuclear weapons thus “destroying the temple”. Whatever happened to the Peace Movement that swept Europe and the US in the sixties and the seventies denouncing the Vietnam war, the Cold War and the nuclear armament? Where are those wise young men and women who marched in the Western cities for peace chanting: 

All we are saying, give peace a chance ?  The wise of the West, the Wise of the world, Unite for peace. 

Dr. Saad bin Teflah Al Ajmi
An academic and a political analyst; Former Minister of Information, Kuwait.