Glory to “Putinism”: an analysis on Russo-Ukranian conflict
By Shivute Kaapanda [Think Tank Africa]
With the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine which historically began in February 2014 following the Ukranian revolution of dignity and initially focusing on the status of Crimea and Donbas as part of Ukraine.
The political tensions included the Russian annexation of Crimea and the wars in Donbas when Russia significantly launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine in the post-soviet conflict which resulted in the removal of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
In 2021 and early 2022 there has been a major Russian military build-up around Ukraine’s borders to which the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have accused Russia of planning an invasion to which president Vladimir Putin criticized the enlargement of NATO as a threat to Russia and demanded Ukraine to be barred from joining this inter-governmental military alliance NATO, while also citing that Ukraine as historically been a child of the Soviet Russia.
Let us quickly give a critical analysis of why the ‘Putinist view’ is right, or rather why the Russian Federation is right in averting NATO forces and why Africa should continue to strengthen diplomatic ties with Russia without fear or favour despite what the western-sponsored media is reporting.
First of all the world should begin to know and appreciate that the multilateral institutions such as the International Court of justice (ICJ) have thus far been used as a tool for western imperialism.
The killing of civilians in Ukraine is a mischaracterization of the state of affairs in order to paint Russia as if it were a bad country.
These multilateral institutions never condemned the genocide conducted by Ukranian forces in 2014 when Ukranian military was killing unarmed civilians in Donbas; this selective application of justice should be condemned with contempt it deserves because it’s a means of trying to bully the world into a singular perspective that basically represent US dominance.
If the UN and the ICJ were fair they should have condemned what NATO did in Afganistan, Iraq and Lybia. The world needs a different form of global governance which represents all people and not just some parts of the world.
At least Russia is being decisive in conducting this necessary military operation in Ukraine with some degree of respect because it is not targeting civilian areas but rather military areas.
The context of what is happening in Ukraine is that the Russian Federation has taken a necessary and decisive step to avert the eastward expansion of NATO especially in eastern Europe which is closer to Russia with Ukraine joining of NATO.
That is the existing security threat to Russia to allow NATO to establish military bases surrounding Russia given the bloody history of NATO forces that NATO have conducted wars which were senseless; they killed heads of states such as Muammar Ghaddafi, therefore Russia is not wrong to avert NATO’s expansion into eastern Europe especially toward its borders.
Russia is the biggest supplier of oil and gas to Europe and the world and to surround Russia with NATO’s military bases which can opportunistically be used to attack Russia is wrong. Of course another element is that of the defense of ethnic Russians in Donbas and other separist elements of the Russo-Ukranian conflict.
Another reason why Russia could be right in averting NATO forces is that in terms of international law and practice there is something called equal and indivisible security, that the security of an individual country or state is intrinsicably linked to the security of the neighbors or even to the region as a whole therefore Russia took a correct step in stopping NATO’s military expansion into eastern Europe.
Historically the US and NATO have been taking over countries globally for selfish reasons. NATO have destroyed Libya, Somalia, etc., for selfish purposes, killing civilians mercilessly.
It is very sad for African countries to vote against Russia even worse and shameful for Namibia whose independence is linked to the Soviet Union that they have voted as ‘neutral position’ in a situation whereby an elephant is standing on a tail of a mouse more especially that oil was discovered recently in Namibia, history will judge African leaders including Namibia as the west imperialists graduates into real economic madness.
The west can put all sanctions on Russia and call everybody in support of Russia’s decision a ‘Putinist’ but at least Russia should die with his boots on rather than dying on his knees.
— Shivute Kaapanda is an African Activist writer and a ‘Putinist’ from Eyanda village in northern Namibia. He is the author of the book titled ‘The Conscious Republic’ available on Amazon. iskaapanda@gmail.com
