- Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been catastrophic. It has led to the loss of tens of thousands of precious lives.
- It has also unraveled Russia’s moral and strategic standing in the world.
- The war has also been disastrous for the rest of the world.
Not only has it destabilized energy markets, fuelled inflation and disrupted the supply of foods and commodities, but it has also exposed and aggravated the poor state of world affairs, accelerating nuclear proliferation, fuelling an arms race, crippling the United Nations, and undermining international law, multilateral cooperation, and humanitarian assistance.
A War Of Choice
Russian interference in Ukrainian affairs escalated in 2014 with Moscow’s forced annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its instigation of a conflict in the Donbas region. The failure of European powers to reach a diplomatic solution in the following years, combined with the United States push to expand NATO eastwards, led to the worst, most primitive attempt at resolving a conflict: a war of choice. Russia’s decision to invade and bomb its beloved Ukraine, after long boasting of their shared attachment, history and culture, is not romantic; it is necrophilia.
The bipolar, the unipolar and now the multipolar world orders have demonstrated that when it comes to the world powers, there is no hope to be had from international law or international agreements during geopolitical conflicts. These are for the weak to honor at gunpoint and for the strong to violate at will. It is a rigged global system that favors the powerful against the powerless – one that will, in all likelihood, lead to more countries pursuing a nuclear deterrent to fend for themselves.
The Way To Peace
The West is also jumping into an arms race. In January, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made a rather Orwellian declaration, saying that “weapons are – in fact – the way to peace”. European nations, large and small, are hiking their military expenditures, including the once great power Germany, which had stayed out of the arms race since its defeat in World War II. Last year, Berlin announced it was setting up a $113bn military fund. Russia has also planned a 2023 defense budget of approximately $84bn, 40 percent higher than the forecast budget put forward in 2021. To be sure, that is only 10 percent of what the US will spend on its military in 2023.
The new arms race is great news for the war industry which is flourishing like never before. Since 2014, world military spending has increased each and every year, reaching an all-time high of $2.1 trillion in 2021. Unsurprisingly, the five largest spenders are the US, China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia, accounting for 62 percent of global defense expenditures. Needless to say, such increases in military spending necessitate cutting other public spending – mostly on social security, education and healthcare – which does not bode well for the common good.
The extent of global warmongering was apparent at this year’s Munich Security Conference which just concluded. While Stoltenberg warned the West against making the same mistake with China as it did with Russia, Western leaders underlined their commitment to war, turning the conference hall into a war room – diplomacy be damned.
Gone Hybrid
Leaders outside the Western orbit have generally gone hybrid, refusing to stick to one camp and rather seeking to preserve their interests, leveraging relations with Washington, Moscow and Beijing. Authoritarian regimes – inspired and emboldened by the misbehavior of world powers – are also acting to preserve their very own narrow interests, regardless of the common good, or any moral, public or global consideration.
Although we have made major strides forward as a human civilization, culminating in healthier, richer, better-educated generations, we seem attracted, if not addicted, to destructive conflicts that could set us back generations. History teaches us that great powers decline or perish because of reckless wars, but to no avail. For decades, Russia and America have followed in each other’s footsteps, fighting wars they could not finish except in humiliation and massive destruction.
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Source: Aljazeera
