The War Machine

As a regular blogger, I feel weighed down by a moral obligation to write something about the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine...The images of surgical strikes, of an enormous tanker mowing down a car, of hungry students in bunkers, of backpackers hoping to cross over to the neighbouring countries should have made me indignant of the superpower's browbeating approach. It should have been an inner compulsion, and a natural revulsion against such a tyrannical act of this magnitude which should have prompted me to pen something incisive. But I have been numbed over the years by the plethora of causeless wars fought mainly for personal gains of some civilized nations and mega multinationals. Skeptical of the unwarranted haste with which U.S. invaded Iraq, brutally ending the lives of more than a million civilians, and of the war in Afghanistan which raged over four decades, the Vietnam fiasco and its meaninglessness, Bosnia tragedy and the Syrian seize, a never ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and an ongoing civil unrest in Yemen, I  have reached the conclusion that  wars are increasingly being used as booster shots for world economy. It is an effective means to mobilize an immense machinery being manipulated by several invisible forces across the globe. Weapon deals get struck in billions. Defense contractors too bag their fair share of business, and so do the intelligence and surveillance divisions of several tech companies. And certainly it's a field day for oil and gas corporations as well.  Stock markets turn bullish, and all's well with the world. People go on with their lives, trying to cope with rising inflation, because of a war they were dragged into. Wikipedia and history books get upgraded.  

While in its present form, the shape of the current war is being determined through confusing statistics, only future will reveal the real story. Right now, what we have is live coverage of explosions, of people fleeing to the borders, some scrambling to leave Ukraine, some returning to partake in the war, empty shelves in the supermarket and traffic jams, as well as plenty of forged news and virtual war footage directly picked from popular video games circulating the whatsapp circles, accompanied  by frenzied commentary by self-proclaimed anchors. In India, PM Modi is being portrayed not only as the ultimate saviour of 20000 some students stuck in Ukraine, but also as an epitome of wisdom to guide the world out of this unparalleled crisis. Here are some headlines from local media:

"Both Russia and Ukraine request PM Modi to intervene"

"On PM Modi's request to give a safe passage to Indian students stuck in Ukraine, Russia orders ceasefire"

"PM Modi World's only hope to charter a peace treaty between the warring nations"...

Not surprisingly, for the ruling party in India the war might turn into yet another opportunity to gain political mileage. Period. 

Yet, all things considered, one can't overlook the fact that it is the first time since World War 1 that a country has invaded another, not feigning any ideological ground, but simply to deter western forces from entering their buffer zone at the pretext of Liberty and Freedom for all.