Ukraine……Crisis or Invasion.

When the Soviet Union disintegrated, thanks to Mikhail Gorbachev, I was saddened. I had always been an admirer of the Soviet Union and the communists. They were the only nation that could stand up against the Americans. The inevitable had happened, the Soviet union disintegrated, Russia saw reforms, the communists were now a hated lot, yet Russia remained strong. All over the Soviet Union there were lovers of India, our films and music. They were our best friends. Their warplanes the invincible MIGs were highly admired here. The Soviets were always on the Indian side, no wonder when they broke up it pained many others too like me.

Three decades have passed since, yet the love for Russia never diminished. A decade ago made a visit to Uzbekistan, once a constituent of the Soviet Union where I was astonished to find Late Lal Bahadur Shastri statue at Tashkent. How the people there respected and loved the former Indian prime minister. The hotels I went to had orchestras that sang hindi songs , all hits of a bygone era. How well the Uzbeks sang and danced to indian music. They were all of respect towards Indian visitors . My visit to Russia has not materialised to date but some day I will go there .

Putin took Russia by storm, elected by huge margins in the elections. He has been either prime minister or president of Russia since 1999 , that means for over two decades . He has managed to bring back Russia on the world’s centre stage . The past glory is back, economically and militarily they are strong again . Naturally Putin must be yearning to get back the territories that the Soviets then gave up. He needed reasons for this. The Americans and the Europeans in their quest to have the upper hand in deciding the policies and strategies of the world, were preparing to get all those new nations into the NATO fold in which they did succeed to a large extent. This would help them tackle the Russian might. They would always have the upper hand. Their dirty minds were always eyeing Ukraine. They cared two hoots for Ukraine, but they wanted to set base in Ukraine, hence kept dangling the proverbial carrot, but the Ukrainian leadership would not bite the bait. Luck favoured them when the comedy star Zelensky got elected. Putin’s two decades of experience, his sharp mind and intellect was enough for him to realise that the NATO powers would be trying to please and get Ukraine and Zelensky on their side, that would be of a great advantage to them in controlling world policies and decisions. Putin could foresee the repercussions of such a situation. He studied the circumstances, planned his strategy well, got the support of his countrymen and first managed to take over Crimea. He realised the NATO didn’t have the balls to oppose or object. Thus he planned his next step….. Take over Ukraine.

Putin’s armed forces with full support of the parliament took the plunge , the world leaders made feeble voices, the press called it the Ukraine crisis, what a foolish way of labelling the invasion. They didn’t have the guts to call it an invasion. Putin has now stormed into Ukraine, his army has taken over major military installations. He might annexe Ukraine as well. The Bidens and the Macarons , the EU and NATOwill cry foul for sure, but they will do nothing, they don’t have the guts to stop it, well they will keep howling, Putin won’t bark….He bites.

Whether his bite will will force NATO to bite back, only time will tell, whether the invasion turns into a full fledged war cannot be foretold today. Only hope Putin knows where and when to stop. One thing is for sure, NATO has let down Ukraine, no visible support is seen, yes they will provide arms to help their own manufacturers of arms make hay while the sun shines , how sad!!

Zelensky is a nice man, excellent comedian, faithful to his country, Russian speaking and a minority Jew. He has the guts to stay put in his country rather than flee away. What he does not realise is that with his love for NATO , being hypnotised by them he has unknowingly and unwillingly brought this horrible situation upon his countrymen. Heis lack of political experience is costing his countrymen dearly