By Dr. Sawraj Singh
The West’s diplomatic onslaught on Russia is starting a new Cold War which increases the risk of a devastating Third World War. The West has not learnt a lesson from the situation in North Korea. It was unable to force a small country like North Korea into submission. How can it force a country like Russia into doing what it wants Russia to do? Russia does not have the economic strength to match the West. However, when it comes to weapons, Russia is more than a match for the West. Russian weapons have proved superior to western weapons in many conflicts, and Russia keeps developing new weapons which are more capable than western weapons. Moreover, western countries do not have any defense against many newer Russian weapons.
S 400 has now become a weapon which everybody wants to have, just like they will like to have an AK47. Every country wants to have S 400 missiles. Turkey decided to have these instead of the American F35 fighter planes. India is going to buy a large number of Russian weapons, including the S 400 missiles. It looks like Russia will remain the largest supplier of weapons to India.
One gets the impression that a clear victory of Russia in Syria has enraged the West and it is acting like a sore loser. The diplomatic fuss created by the western countries appears more like an anger response to the Syrian defeat, rather than a reaction to the alleged attack on double agents in the UK. This seems to be the main reason for the West starting a new Cold War. However, the West should keep in mind that venting its anger on Russia can prove very dangerous. This new Cold War can easily turn into a hot war and the West can get burnt.
Not only Russia has an advantage of superiority of weapons, Russia has the largest land mass in the world. Whereas Russia has weapons to completely destroy any western country, none of the western countries has weapons to completely destroy Russia. The West should take this into consideration that if it keeps provoking Russia, then Russia can decide to retaliate militarily. The West thinks that if Ukraine, backed by the west, keeps provoking Russia, then Russia can be incited to launch a conventional military attack on Ukraine; just like it did in Hungry and Czechoslovakia.
However, Russia can choose to take a different type of action. One such action can be a fatal attack on the UK. In such a scenario, it will become an extremely difficult choice for the West to accept loss of a major ally or escalate the conflict to an all-out war which it cannot win, and the whole world and mankind can suffer an unparalleled destruction.
Even if the West succeeds in provoking Russia to launch a military attack on Ukraine, the West may not get much mileage out of this. The response of the rest of the world may not be much different than Russia’s taking Crimea. Russia’s alliance with China insures that the global balance of power will remain tilted toward them. China wields considerable influence in the world now.
North Korea’s president going to China before talking to the American President clearly sends a message to the West that China has emerged the leading power in Asia. No significant change or development can occur there without China’s consent. Philippines, an important American ally, has shown to the world that no country in Asia wants to provoke China.
We can clearly see the possibility of an axis of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea emerging in Asia. The American concept of a quadrilateral alliance of America, Japan, Australia and India to contain China and confront this axis has never really taken off the ground. The plight of South Korea, a major American ally, may not be much different than Philippines. South Korea may like to improve its relations with China and North Korea.
The West should accept the fact that the trends of the rise of the East and decline of the West are not just transient, but are well-established trends. The age of western domination is over. The West should start learning the virtue of sharing, rather than trying to keep holding on to all the power. Saving the world and mankind should be the top priority of both the East and the West.
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].
