Saturday, January 29, 2022

What the Heck Putin Wants From Ukraine? The Inside Story (Part 1)


I hope you’re not surprised that I’m discussing politics. Though I’m not a politician yet, but I’m very much interested in politics, because I know how crucial it is in our society. You will believe with me that everything in our world today is ruled by politics. If you are not sure, look at the location where you are, and you will see politics at work. The economy, the security, the infrastructure, the people’s welfare – mention it! are all determined by the politics of a nation.

Now, to the topic, what does President Putin want from Ukraine? The simple answer is his territory. He wants to keep his territory. And since Ukraine is part of his territory, he wants Ukraine. But how? Ukraine is an independent nation, why would Putin want Ukraine? To understand this, let’s look a bit of history.

We all know Ukraine was part of the formal Soviet block since 1922. But in 1991, it became independent alongside with other Soviet States. But these States are still connected in a way. They still have the old ties that bond them together, including economic supports and military alliance. And also, most of the people have the same ancestral origin. They are Slavic people. In fact, President Putin has once said - "Russians and Ukrainians are one people."

And major developments took place during the Soviet Era in many of the old Soviet States which included Ukraine. And Russia was the major stakeholder in this, with the capital of the Union being Moscow.

Recently, I was talking with my Ukrainian friend, and he said – “I understood Putin very well. He has the right course. Though he’s not good or bad to me, but I think he has a good claim for what he’s fighting for, because most of the developments in Ukraine were done during the old Soviet days. And it was the joint efforts of the Soviet citizens that built most of the old buildings, metros, industries, technology and other infrastructures in Ukraine. So, Russia has made a lot of investments in Ukraine than to just give it out like that to its opponent.”



I understood what my friend was talking about.

Now, that Ukraine is planning to join European Union and NATO, it’s giving a bad signal to Russia because Russia doesn’t want any NATO member to be close to its border. It wants to protect its territory. NATO is essentially a military alliance, which if Ukraine becomes a member, it would have some of NATO army in its country, which is a red flag for Russia. So Putin wants to do everything in his power to make sure he protects his territory by all means and avoid any western invasion into his neighborhood.

We know right from when nations were established in about four to five centuries ago, that they all have their different core values that their nations were built on and they stuck to. We know the West is essentially a capitalist system and the East is essentially a communist/socialist system. So, these two systems have different core values and political agenda. And both are opposition to each other. So, now it makes sense that Putin, on sighting that Ukraine is planning to join EU and NATO, he’s planning to invade it and prevent its opposition from entering into its territory.

So far, there have been discussions, both political and otherwise, about the tension that is building up at the Ukraine borders and the imminent invasion of the Russian troops into Ukraine. What we hope is that the matter would be resolved amicably and both parties would reach a comprise that would favor development and progress in our nations and the world at large.

S.O PIENS
January, 2022.
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