The new found love between Washington DC
and Moscow is not purely an effort to end the three-year-long Russia-Ukraine
war. Rather, it appears like an effort to create a new world order, aimed at re-establishing
the United State’ (US) hegemony. If Mr. Trump is sincere in ending the ongoing
war which has caused enough disruptions to the world economy, he could well
arrange a meeting between the two warring sides with the US playing the role of
a facilitator. Quite ironically, instead of taking this strategy to resolve the
ongoing crisis, Mr. Trump sent his emissaries all the way to Riyadh to have a
dialogue with Russia. Although what was discussed at the said meeting has not
been fully disclosed, reports have suggested that by the end of this month the
two world superpowers will sign a peace document ushering in a new era of peace
in Eastern Europe.
It is the prerogative of two nations or
more to ink agreements between themselves in order to achieve something
mutually helpful to each other. But even before signing any agreement between
Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin, it can be concluded that it will create more trouble
than solutions to the existing conflict. A close scrutiny of the assurances
given by the US to Moscow will make it clear that neither side is interested in
removing the root causes that turned the two neighbours into enemies. Much
before any deal is signed, the US has unilaterally announced not to allow
Ukraine to join the NATO's fold, the bone of contention between the two sides,
without consulting other members of the organisation. While Russia has always
been apprehensive about Ukraine’s close proximity with the West, seeing it as a
serious security threat, the latter, on the other hand, has always sought the
support of their western neighbours to prevent Moscow’s aggressions. As a
matter of fact, if the Russia-Ukraine war doesn’t end in a week, as per
Moscow’s game plan, it is because of the support it received from the western
world including the US. So apparently it may appear that by ruling out Ukraine’s
entry to the NATO, Washington has taken the right step but the reality is
different, as in the same breath, the Trump administration has also announced
that it will be unrealistic to expect Russia to give up the occupied territory.
While the first assurance has already
created a rift within the NATO block and is virtually meaningless without a
written pledge by all NATO members, no nation on the earth can agree with the
second sop offered by the Trump administration to Russia as it will be a
complete surrender of Ukrainian sovereignty as Russia has occupied one-fifth of
Ukrainian territory since the beginning of the war. It would have been better
if NATO had asked Moscow to vacate Ukrainian land in lieu of a written
commitment against Ukraine’s inclusion in the said organisation, a formula that
may bring back peace in trouble-torn Eastern Europe, rather than the ambitious
but hollow plan floated by Donald Trump.
