The American President is in Poland meeting refugees from Ukraine. Talking to them, he called Russian President Vladimir Putin a ‘Butcher’ who didn’t deserve to be in power.
He went on to say he is duty-bound to protect every inch of Nato territory. However, a blunt rebuke came for his speech from Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun, who tweeted, “Not a single word he said is reassuring to Ukrainians…he is reassuring Poland, while Kyiv and Kharkiv are getting bombed.”
Earlier, US President Joe Biden had warned that Nato would respond in kind if Russia chose to use banned Chemical weapons in Ukraine. In tune with that, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy claimed that Russian troops used Chemical weapons and went silent on that.
Nonetheless, Biden’s meeting with Nato allies and his G7 counterparts led to some business deals for the US. The country will now try to supply oil and gas to Europe, replacing Russian energy. The European countries aim to slash Russian oil and gas usage to 2/3rd by the year-end and cut their energy dependence on Russia by 2027.
Further extending its billion-plus military aid to Ukraine, the US is trying to play the World’s Supreme Power, a morally poised torchbearer of democracy and upholder of justice. Doesn’t that mean defense manufacturers in the US get orders at the cost of taxpayers’ money? What if the war continues? Will they benefit?
With Germany increasing its defense budget, the ex-soviet baltic states (now Nato members) have started looking westwards for defense procurements, feeling ever more insecure. Moreover, the war has given countries like Poland and Yugoslavia a reason to replace their aging Russian/Soviet military equipment with new American warplanes and missile batteries. Indeed, the US was evaluating such an arrangement to send Russian and Soviet-era weapons to the Ukrainian military as they are accustomed to using them.
Still, the critical demand of Zelenskyy to Nato is, “Give us just 1% of your weapons to fight out battle against Russia.” Some European members recently wanted President Zelenskyy’s name nominated for the noble peace prize. What do we call their demand as–recognition or irony? Just a day later, he warned Russia of a third world war.
The war has been going on for more than a month. 3.7 million people of his country have moved out of its borders and taken refuge in neighboring states. Yet, here is a President prolonging the peace talks.
Is Zelenskyy using his former acting skills and playing to the gallery? He mocks at Nato, says they are scared, lauds, and prods them for more sanctions on Russia, seeks increased supply of ammunitions to Ukraine, and a quickly processed membership in the EU. But why isn’t he using his persuasion skills to secure peace?
Unsurprising and speechful, there we have President Biden and Zelenskyy, using their best rhetorics winning applause from allies. But what is Russian President Putin thinking? People are writing books speculating what’s going on in his mind. Some call him the new ‘Tsar of Russia.’ Before the war, he said he wanted to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. Is his rationale to wage war justifiable?
Perhaps, Russia did not anticipate the level of resistance its witnessing in Ukraine. As a section of media reports, if Russia had been raining missiles literally, the civilian casualties and infrastructure damages would have been enormous. Is it a case of underreporting, or is it Russia’s reluctance to go all out, fearing civilian losses? The West should not ban media of not just Russia but of any nation. We must know perspectives from either side before establishing what’s factual.
Someone famous said that Russia failed to build a premise before the war, whereas the Americans know the art of legitimizing an attack. So has an emotive Russia got into the quagmire of war? Time alone can say. But, extending the hostilities will only do more damage to Ukraine and Russia. And let’s not forget, the repercussions of the war and sanctions are already hurting a lot of nations across the globe.
If the US considers itself a World leader, President Biden should have flown from Warsaw to Moscow to clinch a peace deal with President Putin and ended the war.