PETALING JAYA: Should major powers declare war or impose sanctions on countries that do not see eye to eye with them? This question has been top of mind for Asean nations after the recent US “provocation” of China through its officials’ visits to Taiwan, starting with US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
On his Facebook page on Sept 2, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said for thousands of years, there was never a year when there was no war between European nations as they provoked countries, glorified wars and celebrated killings.
Commenting on this, Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research senior fellow Prof Dr Azmi Hassan said the US and its allies do not mind if a war happens elsewhere, like in a Third World country, and does not involve them directly. But the current war in Ukraine is different because it is at their doorstep.
He said Pelosi’s Taiwan visit and the immediate sales of arms to that country were designed purely to provoke China.
“Washington (DC) was aware that Beijing would react to such provocation. The US is trying to show it can face China, while the arms sales benefit the US defence industry.”
He said the West is accusing Russia of human rights violations in Ukraine but similar human rights violations also occurred in Afghanistan and Iraq, involving the US, UK and Australia, adding that it was hypocritical that no action was taken against the violators.
“It is very difficult for Western powers to accuse Russia of declaring war because what it did to Ukraine is what they have done to nations such as Libya, Syria and Afghanistan. They don’t have the moral standing for it.”
He added that as Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear, he should not be blamed for the high cost of living many nations are currently facing.
Azmi said maybe Russia could be blamed for the high natural gas prices in Europe because there is a direct relationship between that and the war, but the high price of other goods is not about the Ukraine conflict but the Covid-19 post-pandemic effects and climate change. He also said these issues have been downplayed and the Ukraine war and Putin have been blamed for the high price of goods.
Emir Research head of social, law and human rights Jason S.W. Loh said the US is the leading country that is “addicted” to war, with its unchallenged record as a war-mongering nation.
“The European Union (EU) is not a war-monger like it (US) but is expansionist, as can be seen in its drive towards Ukraine.
He said Ukraine has traditionally been part of Russia’s sphere of influence but the concept is different from the EU and involves no surrender of national sovereignty on the part of Ukraine, which still has the freedom to maintain neutrality, especially on the issue of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) membership, adding that seen in this light, Ukraine needs only to play the role of a “buffer”.
“Provocations by US and Nato have led to Russia having very little choice but to pre-empt the presence of nuclear weapons and other strategic and heavy weaponry like missile systems being pointed at it.”
However, Loh said the US sale of arms to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act (1979) was not meant as provocation but a response to the threat of invasion by China’s People’s Liberation Army. But such action hits closer to home and has the possibility of destabilising the Asean region.
“The US and Nato practise double standards and are misguided by their false notion of moral superiority. The West’s hypocrisy is due to their ideological triumphalism, which labours under the deluded notion that history is on their side.”
He said the selective trade sanctions hurt the West more than Russia. A good example is the EU’s time-limited sanctions on Russian crude oil imports and refined petroleum products, which have seen soaring energy costs that are hurting households and businesses.
Loh pointed out that even the UK is not spared since its main imported energy pipeline is connected to continental Europe’s Nord Stream 1, which has now been shut down indefinitely.
