The fracture in Geopolitics

The world has been transformed. Its inner mechanism of nationalities connected through threads of geopolitics and global trade is badly injured. I think I will reiterate my words. The world is already in the process of transformation, but this Neo-pseudo world war has finally dissolved the mirage of global connections and solidarity. The myth of international order has been banished by people of power, outlining a crucial lesson: “If we shoot an arrow, it’s not an arrow; if you shoot an arrow, its a bullet.” Based on this theory, influential people dare to determine the fate of nations and comfortably ignore the stains on their own walls. They say geopolitics is a game of chess. The intricate tiles of choices and mastering the art of diplomacy can make a nation thrive or suffer endlessly at the behest of its affluent counterparts. In this chess game, some get elevated to the ranks of Global power and some as a vassal state. The game is interesting, and nation-states often use their full might in asserting dominance. But, this is that same game that uses mere pawns to demolish one another and help the Rulers to Glory. Geopolitics has been metamorphosed into a tug of war competition amongst blocs of nations, whereas ordinary citizens are mere spectators and the ultimate sufferers. During the 1960s, the world was bipolar. Two significant powers, one led by the United States and the other by USSR, virtually drove the entire international relations. At that time, camp politics was at its peak.

The world at that time was also divided into the blocs of Capitalism vs. Communism. It gave the other nations only two options to subscribe to its membership, leading to the sowing of deep resentment towards each other. It induced a handful of countries to join the Non-Alignment(NAM) movement led by India, Indonesia, Egypt, Ghana, and Yugoslavia. Still, it never restrained them from inclining towards either US or USSR. But NAM was the foundation block of the emergence of a new type of Global politics, the ‘Soap bubbles’ policy. I will soon explain why I referred to the development of NAM as the bubbles moment, but before that, I want to derive crucial conclusions on Bipolarity. This Bipolarity fostered divisive sentiments amongst the nations and made the United Nations handicapped.

The world body, which was meant to safeguard the globe from Inter-nation wars and skirmishes, became a tool for powerful nations to arm-twist, smaller states and assume uninterrupted authority. The vestigial nature of the UN is the result of this continuous Cold war. Since its inception, the UN has seen minimal reforms in its overall character arc. Suppose I visualize the journey of the UN through the prism of cinema and consider the UN as the lead character of that movie. In that case, that movie will be poorly rated by the critics, and it will fail to evoke emotions in the audience’s heart. The reason is simple: No Character arc. Monotonous writing. No definitive conclusion of the actor’s destiny. The exact replica is happening with this world body.

The reforms taken for the growth of the UN are near to negligible. The rules governing the principal organs of the UN, like UNSC, are still obsolete. I simply cannot fathom that the world is represented by only 5 nations at UNSC, and they wield uninterrupted power. They use the veto as a shield for their glasshouse and a stone for the others. The entire African continent, whole South America, entire South Asia never reached the permanent tables of this shining hall. They are given minor roles, with words to speak but no voice to deliver. The entirety of the UNSC is hijacked by the cold war narrative, the colonial amnesia, and Allied powers infatuation. As if for them, the world order is still in the 60s, with they being the torchbearer of the first world and second world countries, and others are the remnants of the third world. The permanent 5 nations fully understand the implications of their absolute force. The rules are made in a way to accelerate their utmost crowning. For them, they are the center of global politics, and other nations just revolve around them. This is why United Nations have reduced to an institution suited for paper essays. Cold war, Bloc politics, and imperialistic history fragments have incapacitated the world organizations.

Now, I will shift the focus to comparing the development of NAM with that of the soap bubbles politics. If we dissolve a pinch of washing powder in a glass of water, we can observe foam formation alongside transparent bubbles. When light passes through these bubbles, rainbow patterned colors are observed. The genesis of NAM is just like these bubbles. There are numerous power blocs with their own degree of autonomy and influence. Like the bubbles, sometimes they can coalesce together to form more giant bubbles or power blocs. Still, each has its own size color pattern/administration, and they inhibit power concentration within a single bubble. These numerous and neutral blocs try to balance the power struggle between the bipolar world. In fact, NAM can be considered as the prototype of Multilateralism. We believe in a multilateral world, as it ensures a division of absolute power, but it also enables modern nations to emerge out of that Cold War-era nostalgia. The historical Bandung conference is a testament to neutrality, and it underscores a pivotal point: Neutrality doesn’t mean non-participation. It simply means that for a nation, the well-being of its citizens has the prime importance, and to ensure that well-being, governments will keep their own interests at priority. Countries will neither become a mouthpiece of Cold war mentality nor remain blinded to the power-hungry brutality.

The question is, “Are we really in a world of multilateral bubbles”? Is the theory of NAM helping the nations in countering uninterrupted gaze from Rich and powerful states? To be accurate, the shadows of the Cold war era haven’t left yet, the modern version of the Cold War. These modified variants of the Cold war have more assertiveness. It encompasses groups of nations making guilds, and these guilds are on either side of the coin. The side of NATO and the side of the Russian Federation. The newest Russian operation in the land of Ukraine is the testimony of this Cold War variant. It is not a Hot war. But it has all the qualifications to rank itself as an entire-fledged military war. In this war, NATO uses its economic might as a weapon to disarm Russia. Russia is using its traditional military strength. We have all the reports, news, articles, Television debates to capture this War drama, but the most essential point to observe here is who is at fault? Who should be blamed for the grave misfortune rained upon the residents of the country.? It’s a sensitive topic, and I will use my research to sensitively place my unbiased views to extract the precipitate of this complex reaction.

Precipitate 1: The Ambition of Russia and its negative historical experience.

Russia is living in the dreams of USSR days, and it always inspires hard-lined rulers to revive that glory. The glory of the Union of states before 1990, and for them, the dissolution of the USSR created a power vacuum in Eastern Europe. The newer conditions quickly become democratically inclined towards the US. Russia always had a fear, the fear that someday all the European nations will be engulfed in the clutches of NATO. The fear was genuine, and there was an exponential growth of European countries joining NATO, tilting that power balance towards the West. When the Warsaw pact was dissolved, Russia had the words of NATO, a belief that NATO would follow the same path. Sadly it never happened.

NATO continued its operation, giving membership to new states like Spotify ads. It only made Russia more hostile towards the Western approach. Trust takes years to build and a moment to break. For USSR, the US was a nation of antagonists. The USA has become a trickster for Russia, and Russians indeed despise tricksters more than Enemies. Russia took the developments seriously and decided to use the annexation policy and policy of creating Satellite states to support its vision. Russia knows that it has one of the most powerful militaries globally. Its weaponry is advanced, top-notched, and can inflict heavy damage to the other side in a situation of war. Russian establishment sees itself as the aggrieved party, but does it give the ruler the right to wage war against its neighbors, killing thousands and displacing millions? The war has only generated trauma for millions of individuals, and future generations will be born under this deep sense of pain and tragedy. It is not as if the Russian economy was booming, pre-invading Ukraine. But now, through the threads of numerous economic sanctions and dwindling Russian Ruble, it has put its citizens’ lives in despair. How come human life has become spare parts in this grand scheme of geopolitical war? It’s true that during War, its either blood or people, the Ruler orders, as it has the inventory of humans to waste. The whole war mechanism is the working of a beehive. The queen orders, the soldiers kill, till the last standing one. Russia failed to take notice of these expendable, as for Mr. Putin, his Laser focussed aggression and zeal on invading overshadows the well being of a fellow Human.

Precipitate 2: The Ambition of the USA and its superiority complex.

The messiah of Global politics, the savior of civilization, the USA is the all-knowing, all performing, all participating, all interfering, for whom the world is its playground and we are merely its toys. It will do what it thinks is best for its mood. And when it sees an opposite camp like USSR had developed to its fullest, it will use its full force to suppress it. US is the leader of the group of NATO nations, and it is giving shallow dreams of support to Ukraine. The dreams of Spotify membership, dreams of security, dreams of the moment of pride to be integrated into the influence of US-derived policies. To be honest, sometimes it feels as if Ukraine is just being used as a buffer state to oppose the policies of Russia. And the US will continue to fight the virtual war through its room, till the last Ukrainian. Mr. Biden knew that stepping in the battle would mean devastation, so it took a chance to play shadow fight, a game of sanctions to inflict minimum damage on itself. In the last twenty decades, the US has used its influence. In defeating Despotic rulers, it invaded numerous countries and became responsible for creating power vacuums, and turning cities into the sand, flesh into skeletons, and leaves into ashes. For the US, its establishment of democracy, for people living under its shadows its pain, torture, and death. So, it brings back to the vital question of the hour, when the US was inflicting its ravenous show, why didn’t the world generate the same cries of plea and economic sanctions against it? Why did the actions of the US receive a stamp of approval from its own NATO members? And finally, why the UN didn’t take the baton of world justice into its hands?

Precipitate 3: UN, are you alive?

I can’t hide my displeasure about how the UN has become in this recent years! It has neither the spine to call a spade a spade nor the gravity to actually prevent wars, incursions, or Global Human oppression. The institution formed to avoid global conflict now has become the tool to hide under the stewardship of the UNSC. A few days back, I was astonished at how several media houses are covering the exodus of the residents of Ukraine to neighboring countries. For them, the refugees are civilized, had blue eyes, Christian brethren, who are unlike the brown refugees from Middle East and South Asia. They took no time in whitewashing the crisis. Neither UN nor NATO nor the champions of Human rights called out such racial and ethnic commentaries by media. To be frank, I sincerely believe that deep in the psyche of most people, imperialism is still a fresh cup of tea. They sip it every day, looking through the white man’s burden cup. For them, Humans are of two kinds: 1. Blue-eyed brethren. 2. Brown/ Black-eyed savages. For them, civilizations have the patent of imperialism. For them, life is precious if it has shades of European Culture.

So after analyzing the 3 precipitates, what can we reveal? Who must be held accountable for all of this tragedy? In a single word, the answer is: “WE.” We are responsible for our horror, for our suffering, for our cries, and for our death. This we can be anyone, any institution. It can be an idea, our desires, hunger, and insatiable need for power. To build a building, we need bricks; to make a brick, we need clay. Every step is interconnected. Every action, either this side or that side, requires a trigger. Sometimes we get so involved in the frictions amongst us we lose track of that trigger in the first place. The nations must realize the power of soap bubbles. Together they rise and create a spectacular colorful pattern.

The nations must revert back to the principle of Multilateralism. They must change the backbone of the UN with a highly flexible one, which can absorb shocks of time. They must bring new permanent members to UNSC and give teeth to the institution. They must bring impartiality. Laws and rules are ineffective unless it is empowered to act. Nations are weak unless allowed to prosper. There can be other options also. Chalk out an utterly innovative mechanism to create a new principal organ of the UN. This newborn organ will be representative and accountable to the citizens of earth. People can directly voice their opinions through this new organ. There will be members from every central region of the world, and together they will be empowered by the UN and ordinary people to take concrete and valuable actions.

I read through prose by celebrated Hindi literature poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s poem ‘Strength and Mercy.’ It says, “Forgiveness suits the serpent, that’s got venom, none cares for toothless, poison less, gentle and kind.” It is precisely apt for the world we are living in. Power respects power. To see the actions of the UN, we have to supply UN with the immunity. We have to empower nations to become independent. Because, when they become independent, they can voice their opinion unfettered and untouched.