Saturday,
March 15, 2014
My good friends, the crisis
deepening in Ukraine has attracted global attention because it risks sparking
off a catastrophe that will belittle the first two world wars. Unless stemmed
without any ill-thought-of use of military action by the United States and its
European allies against Russia whose interest in Ukraine is beyond dispute.
Much hot air is being blown, even
as diplomatic efforts falter because none of the interested parties will budge.
While the US and its allies have begun imposing sanctions on Russia and
threatening more wide-ranging ones, Russia has dug in and is determined to do
what it seeks to ensure that Ukraine doesn’t fall into the hands of the US and
is NATO allies.
Losing its former Warsaw Pact allies
(Poland and Romania, particularly) to NATO, Russia must have learnt the lesson
to be on its quivive to prevent the same fate befalling Ukraine. It will do all
in its power to rein Ukraine in and ensure that its backyard is not encroached upon
by forces threatening its very existence.
And Russia has said a lot on its
resolve and taken practical military action to consolidate its territorial
ambitions and to defend its interests. Those thinking otherwise are inserting
themselves into the Ukrainian issue and reinforcing that Russian resolve all the
move.
The manouevres have virtually
gone beyond plain rhetoric to one that is gradually taking us to the use of
force, especially if any foolhardiness is used in reaction to the referendum to
be held in Crimea tomorrow.
The stage is set for more
nerve-wracking rhetoric—or military force. Steel is set to cut steel as the
world shivers in fear of the unthinkable in this nuclear age!!
The UN Security Council has just
voted against Russia—with Russia vetoing the resolution condemning its stance
on Crimea (Ukraine) and China abstaining (apparently because of its own stance
on Tibet and other parts of the country that have been forcibly controlled all
these years.
The fear of letting loose agitations for independence in those
restive areas scares China!!). Russia remains unfazed and is awaiting the
outcome of the done deal called referendum in Crimea.
What next?
In all this happening, nothing
has come from Africa so far. No African voice has said anything for us to know
how our leaders face global affairs. They haven’t said anything so far because
they are themselves facing serious internal crisis as a result of their
incompetence, murderous thievery of national assets, and plain connivance with
outsiders undermining their own African countries.
One may say that Africa should
stay away from that crisis to deal with its own crisis of identity, governance,
and under-development. Or that the Ukrainian crisis is too removed from its
interest areas to warrant putting any stake in it.
Of course, Africa has no direct
interest in Ukraine; but seen from a wider angle, happenings in that country
have an unavoidable impact on Africa, especially within the context of the
forces confronting each other over Ukraine: the United States, European Union,
on the one hand, and Russia, on the other hand.
I am being brunt here to say that
these African leaders are in a bind: first they could have easily faced the
same fate as befell the deposed Ukrainian leader (Yanukovych) but for the
patience and tolerance of the citizens; and second, for the fact that the
citizens want to continue sacrificing in the hope that governance will improve.
More encompassing, though, is the
support they get from the West as they remain as underdogs or puppets to be
manipulated into creating the congenial atmosphere that the West exploits.
We are aware of moves by the
United States, particularly, to establish military bases in some of those
countries and the stiff opposition given by the proud and resolute citizens. In
this sense, then, the African leaders have no moral urge to say anything
scathing to the US and its allies. They fear being exposed for their underhand
deeds in office. They also fear that they will be removed from office if forces
are mobilized against them. We know of uprisings and their huge impact on some
of those leaders.
That some African leaders have
also sold their conscience to Russia is no secret. At the same time, they are
in bed with the West. So, they have pushed themselves into a labyrinthine
relationship that will cut them to size wherever they turn as the pendulum
swings.
Now, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, what else should
they do but keep their mouths shut and their eyes squinting to catch any faint
glimpse of daily happenings regarding Ukraine. They can’t talk because their
tongues will be slashed off for them to learn how not to cross the red line.
I am not surprised, then, that
despite the massing up of rhetorical, diplomatic, and military forces as the
Ukrainian crisis deepens, no African leader has said anything. The umbrella
African Union is recognizable only for its incompetence—or its death!
Unfortunately, though, anything
happening now will have a long-lasting direct or indirect impact on Africa
because of over-dependence on foreign aid and the huge support given it by all
these countries concentrating attention on Ukraine.
One thing is sure, though. Trust
the African leaders to keep their mouths shut while the rest of the world
reacts to the Ukrainian crisis, the latest development to threaten global
peace.
Depending on how this crisis is
handled, it is likely that global politics will definitely take a turn for
alarm. Africa may not become the theatre of any war related to the Ukrainian
crisis but it will suffer serious negative backlash in diverse ways, which is
why an African voice must be heard on the matter.
I shall
return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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