Putin's wars

There are those who applaud the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, for his decision to invade Ukraine with the aim of overthrowing its democracy and appointing a government subordinate to it, as if we are enemies of this country, in which a large and prosperous Arab community resides, and in its universities there are many Arab students.

Understanding the war on Ukraine from the perspective of Putin's supposed support for the Palestinian cause, or Syria's right to the Golan, is nonsense. Putin's Russia has sent millions of citizens to Israel, and this is the most powerful weapon ever given to it. It also destroyed Syria with its air raids, displaced millions of defenseless civilians, and intervened with its own forces to support Al-Bashir in Sudan and Haftar in Libya, against the will of their peoples for freedom.

The standing of some leftist intellectuals with Putin, who is supported by all the extreme right movements in the world, and this is evident here in France, is only part of the delirium they have possessed for decades called “America”. All of their standards are American. All their positions are based solely on who is against America, or with it. They strip themselves of the freedom of independent thought. For example, I may be with China in its dispute with America, and against China for its position on Hong Kong, or the Muslim minority there. The basis for the educated person to think for himself, not just support or opposition. They are always trying to choose between cholera and the plague, and they never see the third independent choice, which is good health.

What are the real motives for Putin's new war, is it really the Russian-speaking eastern provinces, or the threat of NATO expansion. In the time of US President Trump, and at the beginning of President Biden’s era, we used to see who was waiting for the NATO role to end, especially with the emergence of the American desire to abandon its European allies, and move towards its new priority, i.e. China. the coming years. And Russia, even if Ukraine occupied it, will not be able to prevent this.

What drives President Putin's policy in general, is it really the defense of Russia and its interests, or his regime and his survival in power. Since coming to power, Putin has taken two parallel tracks. The first is to establish an autocratic regime that is increasing day by day. The second is to fight any democratic trend in its neighboring countries, such as Ukraine, Georgia and Kazakhstan, and even far away, as we see, for example, in some Arab countries and Venezuela.

Russia's real interests are to build a homeland where every citizen finds his rights preserved, with health, education, work and a decent living. Has Putin achieved this for his people over the course of more than twenty years of one-man rule? Is the Russian citizen guaranteed freedom of expression, while he puts all his opponents in prison, steals the elections, changes the constitution as he pleases and restricts all media outlets?

Putin is only moved by his fear of this same Russian people, and he fidgets every now and then. This people is not looking for the destruction of Ukraine, as it has never felt hostility towards it. The people of Ukraine are very close to the Russians, in history, language and culture, despite Stalin’s imposition of a fake famine that killed about six million people in the early thirties.

The distraction of the people with foreign wars and imaginary enemies is a traditional game of dictatorial regimes, these regimes, which in the end do not pose a threat except to their people, this is what we saw with Saddam Hussein with his permanent wars, and with Bashar al-Assad with the destruction of Syria, and with the former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, when he divided Sudan and lost the South.

The fear of the Russian people, who yearns for freedom, is the motive of the regime and not the fear of NATO or the West, which has not been paying any attention to Russia for decades, as its national income does not exceed the national income of Spain. All of the West's attention was directed to China, the only new power in the world, but an economic power above all, not a power of occupation and wars.

Going back to history shows that the wars of the strong against the weak always fail. We saw that with America in Vietnam and Afghanistan, and with the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, but also in Finland at the end of the thirties, when Stalin tried to bring this country into the union by force, but he failed with the loss of hundreds of thousands of deaths from his army in front of the strength and stubbornness of the Finnish people, which does not exceed five million people. . The solution is only in the hands of the Russian people, who, I hope, will not remain silent for long as they toy with their future and their hope for democracy.