Curtains come down on the controversial referendum organized by the pro-Russian separatists in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia Lugansk and Donetsk today. The divisive referendum was slated for the period from 23-27 September and supported by the Kremlin. What actually remains is the strenuous counting of ballot which is also expected to end soon. The controversy of the referendum is reinforced by the ambiguity of both democracy and the international law under United Nations charter. While democracy asserts that a people of any nation are free to make the crucial decisions of where to belong, international law stipulates that no nation can arbitrarily annex another member’s territory. The lucid confusion here is which decree to use in the case of a conflict like this conflict. However,it should be made clear that the Moscow through its leader, Vladimir Putin has time and again outrightly rejected the mandate of the united nations terming it as poorly constituted and held prisoner by the Western powers. He has vocally called for the reconstitution of the global body to encompass every nation and to give them same treatment. This would certainly clear the air of the fundamental edict Russia employs. It’s definitely democracy. One chooses what fits for him. This is why referendum was organized in a region where a quarter of it’s population are ethnic Russians. There have been claims that the ethnic Russians living in Donbass have been subjected to violence and oppression since the coup in 2014.
The west, however,has completely rejected such referendum and termed it all sorts of obscenities. They have referred to it as a sham and a fake process by a dictator trying to subjugate another country. Funnily, while these accusations rendered virtually on all the western media airwaves, the separatists regions continued with their referendum unperturbed except by a few intermittent shelling. With the end of the five day voting period and the beginning of tallying taking place,the world now waits with baited breath to know what direction this will go. Some say the results are already obvious and Russia will annex the region further leading to escalation. This has caused widespread fear, uncertainty and anxiety among people in Europe. The anxiety is even felt greatly by the regions where the voting just ended and the entire Europe considering that Putin recently threatened to use nuclear weapons if Russia is provoked. Europeans are afraid that another war-a new kind of war -might break out in the middle of the continent,a nuclear war. Nuclear war can cause a lot of distraction both to physical environment and different aspects of the entire world. The last time nuclear weapons were used was in 1945 towards the end of the second world war when the USA bombed two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The devastation and destruction left behind is still vivid in people’s memory and no one would want such a thing to repeat. The next time the world came close but fortunately the worst was averted. This was during the Cuban missile crisis. What the future holds only time will tell.
Taking significant lessons from the annexation of Crimea back in 2014,it should be the same playbook only that this time round it will be on a massive scale. Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Lugansk and Donetsk consist of around eighteen percent of Ukraine and constitute a massive amount of it’s GDP. Because of the fear of launching a nuclear war in Europe,the allies of Ukraine will take cautious steps on how to handle the already frightening situation. The appeasement policy used before the second world war might come in handy again. The west and the United States might let Russia to take what it has to avert any chance of escalating the situation further. In this war, Russia cannot lose and will not accept defeat so it is only right that careful steps are put in place early on to avoid the disconcerting situation. Putin seems to be an egomaniac who will do everything in his power to protect his bloated ego. So far as it is, Ukraine should just forget about the annexed regions and move on. More war will only cause the entire Ukrainian nation to be rubbed off the face of the earth. I know most people won’t agree with me but I’ll urge them to think logically and stop being influenced by emotions. There’s no way that either Europe, facing financial crisis or America, where Biden’s rating are dramatically going down is going to come to the rescue of Ukraine at this point. It’s a point of no return for Putin. Furthermore, Europe is already facing a lot domestically and with the unprecedented situation during this coming winter,it might prudent to say that Putin has outfoxed them. The best they can do is back without biting.
Anonymous 