Ukraine, Russia and the Easter of Insanity
- Written by Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.
Tyranny did not Pause even on the Easter
Decades earlier recall what the US-Britain and NATO did in Iraq even on the Xmas Eve. Layla Anwar (“Come and see our overflowing morgues…..come and see the rubble of your surgical strikes”: An Arab Women Blues wrote in her website blog:
“Everyday, under the pretext of either al-Qaida, insurgents, militants or whatever imaginary name you coined, you have not ceased, not even for one day, slaughtering our innocents……for 4 years, you have not ceased for one single day, not during holiday periods, not during religious celebrations, not even during the day your so called God was born….if you have a God that is.”
We, the People witnessing a planned scheme of things to exterminate humanity with superior weapons hitting targeted civilian towns and daily bloodbath as a new normal. Have we not learned any lessons from the European nationalistic wars of First World War and the 2nd World War? We, the Humanity continue to argue if wars have become part of new normal - unknown and unthinkable to human civilizations and rational thinking. We, the People are entrapped and entrenched by dirty politics of the few. It needs a formidable challenge to rethink about the continuity of the current tragedy in Ukraine.
We, the People, We, the Humanity claim to be a “moral being”, yet our action defy the logic of our claims as moral beings. Easter had moral, spiritual and humanitarian significance to be at peace and united to worship God, the Creator of All (known and unknown), and Lord of the worlds. The Orthodox Christians and other Christian denominations populating Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Asia and Africa would visualize as an inner world of soul and body to celebrate the Easter, but bombing, shelling and missiles continued to victimize the innocent civilians and anarchy of violence and barbarism followed by human beings against other humans across Ukraine. The consequential killings and destruction in Kyiv, Khariv and Mariupol appear far worse than the imagination of despotism.
Loss of Morality and War against All
Canons of rationality should unfold rationality of leadership in Russia, Ukraine, America, NATO and all over the globe for immediate concerns about lost sense of moral humanity. What Russian ‘Military Operation’ is doing in Ukraine, American, British and other Europeans have practiced the Hobbesion formula: “war of all against all.” The conflict in Ukraine calls for an immediate ceasefire and rethinking and how the great cause of humanity for peace and harmony could end up in catastrophic challenges for a sustainable future. Did President Putin not know that war kill people and destroy the habitats? Surely, he knew first-hand how George Bush, Tony Blair and Obama had inflicted insanity of war on the people of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria - and millions and millions were brutally massacred, displaced and children made orphans for generation to come. Why should intelligent and responsible leaders ignore the lessons of history? If Bush, Blair and Obama were wrong and misfit for responsible leadership, Putin does not have to be immoral, tyrannical and ruthless to wage war against his own people - former entity of the USSR – Ukraine- people have enjoin common ethnicity, culture, religion and lot more as peace loving people of this planet.
The wars are declared by the few and not the majority masses. The small ruling elite who plans and wages war is often afraid of citizenry reaction and refusal to accept the rationality of a war. Throughout history, European nationalism institutionalized the doctrine of war as a necessary means to promote national interest and racial superiority over “the other”. Most proponents of wars have used “fear” as one of the major instruments of propaganda and manipulation to perpetuate allegiance from the ordinary folks to the elite warmongers in a crisis situation.
President Putin in Search of a Navigational Change
Effective leaders must know their strength and weaknesses and assess the competence of their immediate advisors and people around them to determine whether they make rational decisions/actions or negating the logic of humanity by crossing over the limits of insanity. Russian culture has immense relationship to ethnicity, language and culture of Ukraine. Why would an intelligent leader bent on destroying his own people and culture for some transitory military gains?
In an age of enlightenment of the 21st century, could we imagine the growth of human civilizations out of moral mire, military conquest, hypersonic bombing and imperial domination? What went wrong with human thinking that has brought us to this onslaught of continued insanity, shelling and killings even on the Easter? We imagine that Orthodox Christians hold Easter as vital and spiritually important as other Christians across the world. But there was no critical challenge emerging to the leadership in Moscow from the Russian religious establishment to halt the bombing or pause for the civilians to be evacuated across the charcoaled buildings in Khariv and Mariupol.
If the Orthodox Church (Russia) claimed moral values, then surely there seems to be contrast between politics and human morality. Undoubtedly, killings and bombing of civilian habitats cannot be related to ideas and ideals of Easter festivity and splendor. Violence against fellow human beings are the outgrowth of madness, cruelty and sheer indifference to human basic values and perhaps Russia would not like to be part of malignity and tyranny. It would be logical to understand that President Putin would realize – what went wrong with his assumptions of immediate victory over helpless Ukraine and to stop the dreadful and unavoidable calamity of war and should rush to make a navigational change for the good of the people of Russia and Ukraine and the larger global humanity. The war on Ukraine has unleashed unthinkable socio-economic, political and humanitarian calamities on the rest of mankind. One would imagine that President Putin would listen to voices of REASON for a navigational change and would not bankrupt Russia as did Bush and Obama: This author noted the same in: “How the United States and Britain Lost the Bogus Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Global Research: 10/22/2010.
It is undeniable that the US is “bankrupt” because of the on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. David M. Walker Comptroller General of the US and Head of the Government Accountability Office (December 2007). reported that “In everyday language, the US Government cannot pass an audit.
Time and Reason call for an immediate Ceasefire and Peace-Making between Russia and Ukraine
We, the People, We, the Humanity must rise against the evil to exploit, tyrannize and demoralize the people across the globe. Those echoing voices of “Crimes against Humanity” in Khariv and Bucha and Mariupol must know that it is a slippery trail of myth and one cannot imagine to expect ICC ( The Hague) to prosecute any superpowers. There were many formal complaints against America, Britain and NATO but none were translated into actions against these powerful monsters for crimes committed against the civilian population in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria.
To stop the war in Ukraine, the US, the EU, NATO should have a direct face to face communication with President Putin. It could be facilitated under the G20 auspices. It is logical when people of diversity and opposing ideals come to talk directly, tensions and evil mongering is reduced to reason and mutual interest. This has not happened except military options for weapon supplies and enlargement of the scope of regional conflict. Time and history will not forgive nor forget any of the leaders if they failed to agree to an immediate ceasefire and peace deal.
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution. Lambert Academic Publications, Germany, 12/2019.
