MOMENT OF TRUTH: A SAD STORY – BY Dr. BOBBY SRINIVASAN AND Dr. SUDHAKAR BALACHANDRAN

July 24, 2014 | Posted by bobbysrinivasan << back to blog

It is not every day that a civilian aircraft flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet is destroyed by a missile, fired from an anti-aircraft vehicle. There were nearly 300 people in the aircraft at that time and were incinerated in the sky. The entire civilized world is thunder-struck by this event and are looking for answers and to punish people who are responsible for this. As is usual when such events take place, it occupies the headlines for a day or two and become pages in history. The pain and agony this incident has caused is not something to be forgotten for the years to come because it is an act of war and the firing is done with malicious intent.

There is always a background to every incident in the history and this is no exception. A few months back, Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea, a part of that country. The justification by the Russians is that there is a civil war in Ukraine and it is hurting the minority Russians settled there. To save them, Russia says that it intervened in the internal affairs of Ukraine. This action created enmity between the various ethnic groups living in the Ukraine and the result is the use of war weapons to destroy themselves. If this is a crime, who then, is the perpetrator? What are his motives? What does he plan to achieve? What is the price the civilized world has to pay? And, what future course of action is needed to prevent such occurrences?

Gladimir Putin, Russia’s President, is the primary villain in the story. He is an unconstructive actor on the world’s stage, notorious in many respects, including providing protection to murderous Assad, regime in Syria. He may not have intended to blow up the aircraft but his earlier action to create a civil war in Ukraine is the reason for this heinous act. The reactions of the global leaders are rather subdued and even the little noise that they make is so weak. For example, President Obama of the US wants to bring more sanctions against Russia as a punishment and its impact is very minimal. Sanctions work only if all the other countries co-operate with the US. Sadly, this is not the case as the European countries have one-to-one relationship with Russia and they depend heavily for energy supplies from them. Any action by them might lead Russia refusing to supply the essential energy supply requirements of the country. They make peace with Russia by making very weak statements, pretending to condemn Russia’s actions.

Where do we go from here? Honestly, there are no answers. Russia is a bully and will not hesitate to attack any nation if the outcome is not beneficial for them. For example, they supply large amounts of crude oil to the world and even small price changes have a deep impact on the economic growth. Currently, Russia is facing serious economic slowdown and to revive the economy, they require oil prices to move up sharply. Since their intervention in the Middle East affairs, especially, their support to ISIS of Syria, they have created great uncertainty about the future oil supplies to the neighboring countries. The European countries are confused about the whole situation. Ukraine wants to join the Euro-zone and if it did, it will become a part of NATO which is ready to engage in a war with Russia. So the euro-zone would love them to become a member of their community and Russia does not want that to happen. The mischievous hand of US is also apparent here as they are very concerned about re-Sovietization.

In the past, when USSR was in existence, the US was extremely scared about a possible confrontation with them. Now that Putin is making efforts to recreate a different USSR, the concern of the US is that it will become a reality. So, Obama made his statement condemning Moscow which is responsible for providing war material to the Separatist. The US’s wish is that the newly formed Donetsk People’s Republic must be dissolved and reunited with Ukraine. Of course, Kremlin is not going to listen and it remains to be seen whether Obama’s tougher penalties would have any effect.

We, in India, are completely appalled by the events that are taking place in Ukraine and pray that the bullying of Putin comes to an end soon. It is the responsibility of our government, being a friend of Russia, to put some sense into their heads. If the NDA government does not act immediately, it is a sheer sign of policy failure on their part.

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