War in Ukraine takes a dangerous turn

With Russian President Putin asking his nuclear forces to go on high alert, the war in Ukraine has taken a dangerous turn. Putin's decision is not about threatening the West with nuclear weapons, as the Western media makes out. It is about keeping Russia in a state of readiness for any threat from NATO, given the belligerence shown by the US and NATO since the war erupted.

Various NATO members, including Germany, have made it clear that they will supply weapons to Ukraine. Significant sanctions against Russia have been announced. Turkey, a NATO member, has restricted Russia's access to the Black Sea. Russia sees itself as under serious threat. In putting nuclear forces on alert, Putin wants to prepare the country for the worst case scenario.

It is a pity that Western media propaganda is being bought wholesale by much of the Indian media. There is talk of invasion of Ukraine, Russia wanting to re-create the USSR, stories about death and destruction and the heroic resistance of the people of Ukraine. The suffering of Indian students stranded there has lent a desi dimension to the story. Ukraine is, regrettably, a war zone. War is suffering, it is destruction. It is important to ask: what led up to this situation? 

As I have been trying to highlight in my posts, Putin has made it clear time and again that he is not interested in absorbing Ukraine into Russia. His main demand is that Ukraine should not become a member of NATO and hence a base for nuclear missiles. The West and Ukraine have refused to concede this demand, which several sober politicians and analysts in the West think is eminently reasonable. Ukraine's President went further and declared that Ukraine retained its right to acquire nuclear weapons! 

Putin sees the continued expansion of NATO into its backyard as an existential threat. He will do what it takes to prevent that from happening. That is why Russia's  military operation in Ukraine has happened. The operation will not end until Putin's twin objectives are achieved: de-militarisation and de-Nazification of Ukraine. No sanctions, no UN resolution, no Western media propaganda can stop Putin from doing what he thinks is absolutely essential for the security of his nation.

I cannot do better than quote from an article veteran diplomat M K Bhadrakumar has written in Rediff.com:

Russia is not at war with Ukraine, but is locked in an existential struggle to avoid the fate of Yugoslavia. Period. The spectre that is haunting Putin is NATO membership for Ukraine, which the Americans have been orchestrating.

Following the CIA-sponsored coup in Ukraine in 2014, an anti-Russian power calculus emerged in Ukraine. The US's point man for Ukraine in the Obama administration was none other than Biden himself. He made countless trips to Kyiv during 2014-2016 to fine tune that transition.....

The core issue today is not 'Russian invasion'. Putin has spelt out unambiguously that Russia does not intend to occupy Ukraine and that its objective is two-fold: 'Demilitarisation' and 'denazification' of Ukraine

The first one means dismantling the military infrastructure that NATO and has installed on Ukrainian soil right on Russia's doorstep. Ukraine's defence apparatus, including its command centres, are already hooked to the NATO system.

Putin has repeatedly warned that if the US instals missiles in Ukraine, Moscow would be within 5 minutes's striking distance. It is 'like a knife at our throat', he said on Thursday...

....Under no circumstances will Russia give up until the twin objectives are realised -- dismantling the offensive weapon systems installed by NATO in Ukraine and, secondly, scattering the Neo-Nazi forces that act as the US's cat's paw.

The Modi government has shown courage in abstaining from the Security Council decrying the Russian intervention in Ukraine. But many of our intellectuals and the Indian newspaper reading audience seem sadly disconnected from the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine.