By Dr. Sawraj Singh
Russia and China are going on the offensive and pose a growing challenge to the West. Russia and China have finally realized that the West wants to maintain its arrogance, hegemony, and monopoly over the world and wants to maintain the western-dominated unipolar world with America as its undeclared leader. The West is unwilling to accept the reality of the emerging multipolar world. The west has become even more aggressive in resisting the change and continues to deny the fact that the twenty-first century is Asia’s century. The brutality and barbarity with which they murdered Gaddafi in Libya was much more than the way they murdered Saddam, his sons, and his grandson.
Russia and China have realized that they have to stand up to the West; otherwise, the West will walk all over them. Therefore, they have gone on the offensive. Recently, Russia took three steps which represent this changed attitude. The first, Russia has warned that it can use nuclear weapons first when it feels its security is threatened. This is the first time that a major nuclear power has declared that it can use nuclear weapons for offensive purposes. The second, Russia has sent warships to Syria’s coast to defend Syria from any invasion or to intercept naval supplies to the opposition forces in Syria. Again, in the recent times, Russia has not directly intervened in the Middle East conflict before. This greatly raises the stakes in Syria. The West will have to realize that Syria is not Libya. In Syria, the West risks facing the combined strength of Russia, Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah. The West risks a very big, crushing, and humiliating defeat in the Middle East this time, which may prove fatal for some of the closest allies of the US, including Israel.
Russia has just announced its response to the installation of the American missile System. It has warned the NATO and the US that Russia will apply the Iskander Tactical Missile System in the Southern Krasnodar and Kaliningrad regions, which border Poland and Lithuania. This will bring not only the US, but practically the whole Europe under the range of the Russian missiles. Russia has also threatened to come out of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The treaty was signed in April 2010 for a ten-year reduction in the strategic weapons, the nuclear missiles to 1,530 units, and the submarine-based missiles and heavy bombers to 700 units. If the START breaks down, then there can be renewed race of nuclear weapons. The West should understand that it takes money to develop more sophisticated nuclear weapons. The West is going through a severe economic crisis whereas Russia can get financial help from China, who needs its vast oil, gas, and other energy resources. America has no treaty to provide that kind of cash now. Therefore, in a new weapons race, America is likely to lose. America has 15 trillion dollars deficit whereas China has surplus money to invest.
India should not forget the lessons of history. In 1962, when China defeated India, then America and the western countries were unable to do a single thing to change the course of that war. After the war, India realized that it has to move closer to Russia. In the 1971 war, the outcome was different. India and Russia were able to defeat Pakistan and America. The American sixth fleet did not even intervene and Pakistan was dismembered. This war clearly established India and Russia as the leading powers in Asia at the expense of America and the West. However, now the tables have turned. Russia and China can dismember India while America and the West will be hardly able to do anything just as they were unable to do anything in 1962 and 1971. India should not rely upon America and the other western countries. India should revive its time-tested friendship with Russia. Russia still remains India’s best hope for a better future.
China has warned the USA not to meddle in the Asian affairs because it is not an Asian country. None of the Asian countries, even with the American support, has the ability to face the combined strength of Russia and China. America should understand that the only reason its fate is not similar to the UK, which has become a fourth-rate power, is because Russia and China were divided. The day Russia and China joined forces, the American era and the West’s hegemony ended. India should read between the lines. Russia’s warning of using nuclear weapons is against all of the American allies and potential allies as well.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected] or 509-962-3652.
