India’s oldest Socialist Weekly!
Editor: Dr. G.G. Parikh | Associate Editor: Neeraj Jain | Managing Editor: Guddi
Given our world, we should all probably be in the streets now. I mean, here we are heading into Cold War II, while facing the possibility of World War III on a planet that, thanks to the way we live and produce energy, is heading for hell.
To understand the origins of the New Cold War and the onset of the current Russian entry into the Ukrainian civil war, it is necessary to go back to decisions associated with the creation of the New World Order made in Washington when the previous Cold War ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
News has appeared that Ukrainian President Zelensky has conceded that he is willing to concede to the Russian demand that his country will not seek to become a member of NATO. If it is so easy to work out a compromise over Russia’s legitimate security demands, why was Biden so very stubborn in his refusal to even discuss it, given the urgency of the matter?
I am against killing and destruction. I will therefore join in a march for peace – but not in step with the greedy, violence-hungry forces who have taken up the Ukraine issue to pursue their own disastrous goals.
The number of people displaced by war, general violence, or human-rights violations last year swelled to a staggering 84 million, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. If they formed their own country, it would be the 17th largest in the world, slightly bigger than Iran or Germany.
While Putin’s actions are a reaction to the events of the past three decades, they do not justify the invasion of Ukraine. Neither is the resurrection of the institutions of global militarism (such as NATO) justified, that have contributed so much to the creation of the problem. The popular movement for peace needs to be rekindled.
As the BJP pulls out its old tactics of creating a spectacle of an emergency, the students returning from Ukraine have seen through the fraud and refused to play ball.
Despite the horrific bombing campaign against Yemeni civilians, Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations and war crimes have garnered nowhere near the level of coverage and sympathy that the mainstream Western media has rightfully given to Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an unprovoked and unjustified attack that will go down in history as one of the major war crimes of the 21st century, argues Noam Chomsky. But at the same time, it must not be forgotten that there would have been no basis for the present crisis if there had been no expansion of the NATO alliance following the end of the Cold War.
We must remember that once you open the Pandora’s box of war it unleashes dark and murderous forces no one can control. I know this from personal experience. The match has been lit. The tragedy is that there was never any dispute about how the conflagration would start.
Janata Weekly is India’s oldest independent socialist weekly.
Ever since its founding in 1946, Janata has voiced its principled dissent against all conduct and practice that is detrimental to the cherished values of nationalism, democracy, secularism and socialism, while upholding the integrity and the ethical norms of healthy journalism. For more than seventy years now, week after week, it has continued to analyse the changes taking place in the country and the world from a socialist standpoint, and thus promote the spread of socialist ideology in the country.
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