Tongue of Slip!!
A V E
Issue 91, 2022
Established: 1995
o u t p o s t
Saturday, February 12th, 2022
Campus News
Tongue Of Slip!!
Pg. 4
Pg. 6
Pg. 3
The Long, Hard Battle -Raghav Agarwal, XI
Illustration: Migam Angu, XI
The news recently was filled with the screaming possibility of a third world war, the stage set with Russia on one side while America stood on the other with Ukraine as the chosen battleground. The Chinese Communist Party stood beside Russia while Europe supported America and the cause of Ukraine. It all started with the dissolution of the USSR in 1989. 15 states were born as a result of this including Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine’s history as an independent nation
has been a very short one. It has over the centuries either been partially or fully occupied by Russia which makes almost half of its population ethnic Russian. Post 1991 when Ukraine established itself as an independent nation, its tryst with democracy was less than perfect which suffered from a weak economy and a foreign policy
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that wavered between a pro-Russian to a Pro-European front. The 1st of May 2004 held much significance for Russia, for 10 new members of the eastern bloc came to be a part of the European Union. A majority of these countries shared a border with Russia. Ukraine’s fervour to join NATO, was looked upon by Putin as a cause of grave threat to Russia’s internal policies. In 2013 the then Prime Minister of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich rejected a deal to be formally drawn into the European Union leading to the outbreak of mass protests. The people of the country forced Yanukovich, who was looked upon as a Russian puppet, out of the country. This promptly made Putin invade and occupy the Crimea, an essential part of Ukraine but with a Russian speaking population. Russia held a memorandum which saw a vast majority of Crimeans opt to stay with Russia. Reoccupation of Ukraine was part of Putin’s agenda to revive Russia’s image and glory as an imperial power. It does not help that Ukraine itself lies neatly divided socially and politically between Ukrainians who see themselves intrinsically part of Russia while others primarily of the capital Kiev, relate to their European image. Culture takes centuries to form and given the history between the countries, many Ukrainians particularly of the east of the country relate more to Russia than Europe. The geo-politics of the region will have far reaching impact including India who has taken a non-aligned stand but is holding talks with both parties off the fence. While it remains unclear whether or not Russia will invade Ukraine there is no denying the emergence of a cold war like scenario with an aggressive and isolated Russia on one end and a weak America on the other.
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