Europe recklessly heading towards a Euroshima holocaust

 

MATTERS are getting more inflammatory and riskier when it comes to the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) supply of more lethal weapons that could hit deep into Russian soil could be the trigger for a dangerous nuclear war.

Anti-war activists in Europe had decades ago coined the word Euroshima – as a reference to Hiroshima – for a nuclear holocaust in Europe during the height of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West.

It is really regrettable that more than 30 years after the Cold war ended Europe is staring at a nuclear conflagration brought about more by recklessness than any other logic.

It has been more than two years since the Russian-Ukraine conflict started and until now there has been no serious efforts by any party including the United Nations (UN) to prevent things from getting out of hand.

It simply needs one serious attack on Russia to trigger a nuclear response which President Vladimir Putin had warned the West many times.

Russia president Vladimir Putin

Patience is running thin with both sides in the conflict and this is becoming more dangerous. Only possibly the election of Donald Trump and the defeat of Joe Biden in the November election could stop the war and forestall the nuclear threat. But this may or may not happen considering Trump’s legal problems.

Unfortunately, there is no major leader in Western Europe who is rallying for peace. Whatever peace overtures had come from the West have been mostly muted and no leader is willing to break ranks with NATO to stop the nuclear danger and go for some kind of compromise or peace deal.

Presently, in the ongoing G7 summit in Italy the G7 member nations have decided to use the earnings from the frozen Russian assets to raise US$50 bil for Ukraine to continue its war effort. President Putin has described the move as “theft” which will not go unpunished.

The war should not have been allowed to happen in the first place and it was the belligerence of the US and UK that started the war with other NATO members meekly joining in.

All that Russia wanted was for NATO to not induct Ukraine into the military alliance. Russia, which was weak after the break-up of the Soviet Union, had unresistingly accepted NATO to induct the former Warsaw Pact countries into NATO contrary to previous agreements.

However, things got too far when NATO wanted to include Ukraine into the bloc. This was a red line for Russia and Putin who became aware of the true intentions of the West.

(Pic credit: AP)

This was the one and only reason why Russia decided to invade Ukraine and not for any expansionist purposes as claimed by some Western leaders.

Russia would have gladly allowed Ukraine into the European Union (EU) which would have been more beneficial for the economy of Ukraine with its vast agricultural and industrial outputs.

Now France wants to send its military personnel and planes to Ukraine and Russia had already warned that they could become legitimate targets.

The recent European Parliamentary elections had revealed the strong gains by the right-wing groups that support Russia in the conflict.

The average European wants peace to be restored knowing full well the dangers of a wider conflict.

One can discern a divide between the people and their hawkish leaders who want to go all out against Russia. Despite the immense death and destruction of the two world wars, Europe is still on a warpath and wants to re-visit the tragedy of the past.

Western Europe does not have the strong statesman-like leaders who could take bold initiatives to end the death and destruction in Ukraine but allows the US to dominate in decision-making.

It will take decades for Ukraine to recover and can one expect the West to help in its re-construction when they played a primary role in its destruction?

What should have been a peaceful give-and-take gesture by fellow Europeans between Russia and NATO concerning Ukraine had been foolishly allowed to balloon into a major conflict, and become an existential threat to the continent.

V. Thomas is a Focus Malaysia viewer.

The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

- Focus Malaysia