Why Nato’s battleground in Ukraine should matter to Malaysia

The effects of the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine have understandably touched the hearts of billions around the world.

The current dominant narrative has placed the blame squarely on Vladimir Putin but one needs to take a deeper look at the Ukrainian conflict. Is it as simplistic as a “Russian invasion” or has it been caused and provoked by Western powers?

It must be remembered that Nato is not an economic grouping but a military alliance.
In the days preceding the actual armed conflict, Putin had one principal demand which was that Nato should give a guarantee not to allow Ukraine into the military alliance.

The Western alliance refused to provide that guarantee. Instead, it engaged in posturing as the guardian of “the will of the Ukraine people” and continued to provoke Russia into taking action for its own self-preservation. Putin did not wake up one morning and decide to amass troops at the Ukraine border. The move was a reaction to Western plans to admit Ukraine into Nato.

Malaysia should not be swayed by the Western narrative that Russia was “unprovoked” or that it had no “genuine security concerns” and its thrust into Ukraine was “naked aggression”.

Juxtapose the current situation with the highly unlikely scenario of a democratically elected government of Mexico striking up a military alliance with Russia, allowing weapons and personnel to be stationed in Mexico. Would the US stand idly by and allow that to happen? Quite apart from the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the answer is so obvious that it needs no ventilation here.

Malaysians have to look at the causes of the current conflict objectively. We need to appreciate how major powers could use our landmass as a battleground for their domineering ambitions. Every superpower has its finger in the pie of provocation in such places and events that serve its own expansionist ambitions, however it chooses to colour them. A proxy war is the current model preferred by world powers.

There is a continual suggestion that China is the biggest threat to the independence of our region. If indeed that is so, Asean or some parts of Asean that are like-minded must engage China in constant dialogue and not allow itself to be pushed into the arms (pun intended) of China’s adversaries. We must learn to tip-toe around the minefields laid by the superpowers. We must be determined to prevent our lands from being made the battleground of others. We may need to galvanise the dormant non-aligned movement and take the path of independence and neutrality.

It is noteworthy that the two most populous nations, China and India, both nuclear powers, chose to abstain from supporting the recent US-sponsored resolution at the UN Security Council. Both nations, however, did appeal to the better values of humankind to cease armed conflict and to end the sufferings of the Ukrainian people.

Unsurprisingly, the most current Western narrative is that it would have been highly unlikely that Ukraine would have been allowed into Nato. The question then is why this was not unequivocally stated before the conflict began.

It is not too late, though. If indeed the Western powers genuinely empathise with the suffering Ukrainians, they could give Russia a clear guarantee that Ukraine would not be allowed into Nato and Russia would then have no cause or reason to remain in Ukraine.

Remember, the blood of innocent Ukrainians is not only on Russian hands; it is on Nato’s too.

The ball is in your court, Nato.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.