Hadisur Rahman, an engineer with the Bangladeshi cargo ship 'Prosperity of Bengal', was stranded at the port of Alvia, Ukraine. But that ship was hit by a missile. The people of the house were worried and anxious about him because he was trapped in Ukraine. He came out of the ship to talk to his family. He died of gunshot wounds while speaking. The ship caught fire but other sailors escaped.
The war between Russia and Ukraine, and the tension between Russia and NATO over it, has divided most of the world's people into two camps. The screens of mass media and social media are now being flooded with information on war, conflict and victory-defeat analysis. This constant flow of information is taking us away, we are standing for and against. But we can ask the question, who needs the war? Does anyone win the war in the end?
With the aggression of Russia, the world's second largest military power, Ukraine has become a real hell in the world. The war has just entered its second week. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a military base, as well as homes and schools. Homes and installations are being destroyed by missile attacks. The two sides are also embroiled in a conflict over control of a high-risk nuclear power plant. One city after another is being surrounded and captured with the help of planes, warships, missiles and tanks. Civilians are also being killed along with military personnel. Women and children are not left out in that procession.
Hundreds of thousands of Russian troops are advancing on the capital, Kiev, with modern weapons. Food and drink are running out in the cities of Ukraine. Hospitals are filled with the cries of the injured. Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing the horrors of war to the Polish-Romanian border. However, the Ukrainian government has banned able-bodied men from leaving the country. They are leaving their normal life and becoming refugees at the moment. According to the United Nations, about one million Ukrainians have sought refuge in neighboring countries. If the war is protracted and Kiev faces a major resistance war, no one can say where that number will stand in the face of the imminent humanitarian catastrophe. Perhaps Europe is going to face the biggest refugee crisis of all time.
Russian troops are also dying in the resistance war. The real situation is far more difficult than the Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin allies surrounding him thought. As a result, the number of casualties from them in direct war is not less. These soldiers are the children of ordinary citizens of the country. With whom there is not the slightest connection of the gains and losses of war.
The Corona epidemic has shown us that the movement of goods and people in the open market economy is nothing more than a local issue. Although first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epidemic has been raging for three years. The worst affected countries are Asia, Africa and Latin America's marginalized economies. The people of these countries have died relatively more due to the collapse of the medical system and lack of treatment. As a result of the lockdown, the traditional chain of global markets and supply chain has been damaged, leaving 500 million people in the world extremely poor. Inflation has risen, as have the prices of food and consumer goods, including fuel oil. As a result, hundreds of millions of people around the world are struggling to provide food and nutrition. In this context, one does not need to be an expert to understand that Russia's military aggression in Ukraine is another blow to the world economy, including the sanctions imposed by NATO and the European Union.
The war front surrounding Russia's military aggression in Ukraine is not limited to the borders of Eastern Europe. The sanctions imposed on Russian banks and financial institutions by the United States and its European allies are hurting any country or entity that trades with Russia. Russia-funded projects, including nuclear power plants, have also come to a standstill in Bangladesh. It will also have an impact on import-export trade. Russia now supplies about 40 percent of Europe's energy. Russia and Ukraine are major suppliers of wheat and agricultural products to various countries, including the Middle East. War and sanctions will only increase global instability in the areas of food and energy, two essential elements of human survival.
The new war front is now cyberspace. Russia's media has been banned by Westerners advocating for freedom of expression in the wake of the Ukraine invasion. In response, Russia has imposed sanctions on various social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Several foreign media outlets have also been shut down. People have to rely on lies, rumors and one-sided propaganda to shut down the media. The closure of social media will leave the Russian people in the dark about what is happening in Ukraine, as well as the damage to social media-based businesses.
In the last six months since US President Biden came to power, the world has gone through three major events. The first is the withdrawal of US-led forces from Afghanistan. Second, tensions between the United States and its Asia-Pacific allies with China over Taiwan and the South China Sea. The third is the Ukraine crisis. The United States will learn in January that Russia is going to invade Ukraine in February.
Russia has been preparing for war on the Ukrainian border for months. At the time, Western leaders, including Biden, did little more than talk. The possibility of stopping the war did not match any of their political and diplomatic activities. European countries, including Germany and France, have remained silent until the last moment of aggression, as they depend on Russia for oil and gas. In recent years, however, the United States and the United Kingdom have provided military assistance to Ukraine. Russia alleges Ukraine has been turned into a NATO arsenal. One of the two main reasons Putin argued for the invasion of Ukraine was to disarm Ukraine. The second is to save Ukraine from neo-Nazi ideology.
Since the beginning of the Russian aggression, NATO has been sending arms and ammunition to Ukraine. Germany, which has not provided military assistance to any country since World War II, is also sending arms. The United States and the United Kingdom have launched an initiative called the International Donor Coordination Center to send arms to Ukraine. On the other hand, the EU is using the funds of the European Peace Facility to buy weapons. At the same time, Europe has not stopped taking Russian oil and gas. So the question is, how much of NATO's indirect involvement in the Ukraine war is moral and how much is it self-interested? Didn't they choose to punish Russia by putting a gun to Ukraine's neck?
For some time now, Western spokesmen have been talking about the Second Cold War. The situation in Ukraine seems to have been created in the context of the Second Cold War. And the system is working to prolong this crisis. If the war continues, not only will the devastation and humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine reach alarming levels, but Russia will have to suffer in the long run. Europe will also suffer. The poorest people in Asia and Africa will suffer the most. But there will be some who will benefit financially from this war. According to Oxfam, the wealth of the world's top 10 richest people has doubled in the two years since the Corona epidemic. We will surely know whose wealth will increase in the Ukraine war.
War and war frenzy is not a solution. Young people in Russia's major cities are protesting against the war. State repression and oppression is going on against them. Anti-war protests are taking place in almost all parts of the world, including Germany, France and the United States. Anti-war campaign is also going on through social media. However, most people are still stunned by the victory or defeat of the war. But people must also speak out against the war that world leaders have made inevitable by blocking the path to a political and diplomatic solution. Some arms dealers or superpowers have to speak out against taking the lives of 600 million people of the world hostage. Whether Ukraine wins, whether Russia wins, whether Putin wins, or Zelensky wins, or Biden wins — this question should be irrelevant to the people. We must express our sympathy for those who lost their lives in the war. And hatred must be shown to those who have chosen the path of war and destruction without finding any alternative. The question is, does anyone win the war? The answer is, people are defeated in every war. People like Hadisur Rahman, who have nothing to do with war, are also victims of war. So people have to become anti-war.
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