Hardening of battle lines ominous for the world

The strategic visit by US President Joe Biden to Kyiv, days before the first anniversary of the Russian war on Ukraine, has only hardened the battle lines and made it obvious that America is in no mood to facilitate an early resolution of Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. Even as Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walked together to a cathedral, the US State Department announced an additional $460-million aid to Ukraine, including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems and air defense radars worth $450 million and the rest for energy infrastructure. Ukraine is set to receive large supplies of western weaponry over the next few months in an attempt to sharpen its counteroffensive, leaving no room for doubt that this war is not going to end anytime soon.

Biden is busy doing chest-thumping and saber-rattling on European soil; in his opinion, Russian President Vladimir Putin was ‘dead wrong’ in presuming that ‘Ukraine was weak and the West was divided.’ A defiant Putin has reaffirmed that sanctions-hit Moscow is ready for the long haul, even as he has accused the US-led West of stoking a global war to destroy Russia. Biden’s overzealousness has also given China, a key Russian ally, ample fodder to take potshots at the US. Beijing has urged ‘certain countries’ to immediately stop fueling the fire. Not to be left behind, Zelenskyy has warned that a world war would break out if China supports Russia militarily against Ukraine.

Given the geopolitical complications, the volatile situation is inevitably going to worsen. It is clearly evident to the international community that the US is no peacemaker and can never be one. Indeed, it was America’s overreach for NATO’s eastern expansion that provoked Russia and led to the invasion of Ukraine a year ago. Countries such as India, the current G20 president, need to play a proactive role in bringing both sides to the negotiating table and calling out the nations that are hell bent on prolonging this mutually destructive war and jeopardizing world peace.

(Tribune, India)