Many people agree that Putin emerged victorious in the informal and undeclared contest for the top world leader position at the U.N. Obama was not even a close second and the other leaders looked more like pygmies before the giant stature which Putin was able to achieve. There is hardly any doubt in anybody’s mind that Putin’s Russia has taken the leading position in the fight against terrorism. The clear stand which Putin took against terrorism is in complete contrast to the opportunistic, self-serving, weak, wavering and confused stand the West has taken.
The unprincipled and opportunistic western stand on terrorism has not only failed in solving the problem, many people are wondering that it could be actually propagating the problem. To begin with, the West has created such conditions which breed terrorism.
Enslaving, looting and exploiting other countries. Wiping out other cultures, imposing its life style and value system on others and forcibly changing those regimes which do not toe its line are some of the factors which incite terrorism. Add to these western exceptionalism and American arrogance and you have a perfect recipe for disaster.
Not only the Western countries have created conditions which led to the problem but they have never hesitated to use terrorism and terrorists to achieve or advance their goals where ever they could. American involvement in Afghanistan gave us the Taliban and the American attack on Iraq gave us the IS. The Western attack on Libya gave a very big boost to the Islamic fundamentalists. Finally, America and its allies such as Saudi Arab’s obsession to get rid of Assad, has pushed the Middle East to an extremely dangerous state. If the Assad regime falls and the IS is able to take over then the whole region and probably the whole world may not feel safe. It is hard even to imagine the possible consequences of such a scenario.
The west has made such a mess in Syria that the whole world (including the western countries themselves) has started looking at Putin as the only leader who has the ability to clean this mess. Putin seems to have been able to convince them that at this time the priority should be stopping the IS from taking over rather than trying to topple Assad. At this point any effort to topple Assad can only help the I S to achieve its goals. This situation reminds me of a Mao’s story told in a similar situation. Four enemies go to a jungle to kill one and other. However they ran into a tiger in the jungle. Mao asks what could be the best option for them under such a scenario. He says the best thing for them is to kill the tiger because if they do not then the tiger is going to kill them all. After resolving this issue they can resolve the other issues.
Putin seems to be advocating a line of action in Syria which is based Upton the Chinese wisdom. I am sure the Chinese are in agreement. Contrary to western claims; China has not completely abandoned the wisdom of Mao. They have tried to make it relevant to the present situation. Putin is trying to learn from the collective wisdom of the Russian people just like Mao tried to learn from the collective wisdom of the Chinese people. Russia like China belongs to the East. Therefore, like China, Russia has also access to the eastern wisdom.
The biggest irony and tragedy is that India which can be called the ultimate seat of the Eastern wisdom has decided to break with the East, and join the West. The Indian tilt towards America now seems t o have landed India in an anti Russia, anti China, anti Islam and anti third world alliance of America, Japan, and Israel. Completely disregarding the ancient Indian wisdom of trying not to get involved in conflicts, India seems to be enthusiastically jumping into the conflicts. Just look at the Nepal and this point becomes clear. India and America shared a small victory in Sri Lanka against China. However, if we look at the total situation in south Asia then Indian losses seem to be bigger than the victories. The anti India sentiment in Nepal has risen and continues to rise. Russia, India most reliable and trusted friend is moving closer to Pakistan. Russia is improving its relations with the Islamic countries and the Muslims. This can be verified by the opening of a mosque in Moscow where more than 140,000 Muslims and many Islamic dignitaries participated. Compare this to news from India where a Muslim family was attacked by a Hindu mob on the suspicion of keeping beef in the refrigerator. This happened a few kilo meters from Delhi. India seems to be weakening both the pillars of its foundation; Secularism and Non Alignment thanks to our American and Israeli friends.
India does not seem to understand that if an axis of Russia, China and Pakistan forms then it can be completely surrounded by unfriendly powers. Neither America nor any other country will be able to break this encirclement. India should remember what happened in the 1971 war. India and Russia were able to defeat and dismember Pakistan and America could do very little to save Pakistan. India should not let the roles reversed. If India wants to prevent the formation of a Russia- China- Pakistan axis then the only realistic option is to revive its traditional friendship with Russia. India should be realistic in assessing the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different countries. It seems to be grossly overestimating American strength and equally grossly underestimating Russian strength. It is true that America is the strongest country. However, there are two problems with it which cannot be ignored. First, America is in a state of decline whereas China and Russia are relatively in a rising phase. Moreover, when Russia and China join their forces then America does not have the strength to match them.
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].
