Epitaph for the living, By Owei Lakemfa

Some European leaders believe that during the first year of the War in Ukraine starting today, February 24, 2023, Ukraine will defeat Russia militarily. They would rather continue the war, and write the epitaphs of the young Russians and Ukrainians who will be killed, than allow a peaceful resolution. However, while they are focusing on military conquest, related events show that the European and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, may be partially broken due to terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipeline that links Russia with Germany.

The United States of America has accused one of the world’s most famous journalists, 85-year-old Seymour Hersh, of carrying out a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea. The US, curiously, remained almost silent while the United Nations, the United Nations, said it would not lead an investigation to uncover the culprits.

French President Emmanuel Macron on February 18 made an unequivocal statement that he wanted Russia to be defeated but not crushed. According to him: “I want Russia to be defeated in Ukraine, and I want Ukraine to be able to defend its position … I am sure, in the end, this will not end militarily.” He added that neither side could win and did not want the war to spread to Russian territory. Macron is not clear on who wants to defeat Russia: NATO or Ukraine?

I’m sure he knows that Ukraine is unlikely to defeat Russia, so he might as well put that country to an unnecessary death rather than negotiate an end to the war. Maybe Macron and his fellow European leaders just want to wear down Russia and make it vulnerable. Moreover, it may be hoped that the war may lead to a coup d’état in Russia. But they should know that this can also happen in Ukraine.

Three days later, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, while not rejecting peace talks, stated that any peace that leads to the surrender of Ukraine cannot be real. Italy, he said, was considering sending more air defense systems to Ukraine, but rejected the supply of military aircraft. In other words, Italy wants conditional discussions. Foreign Ministers of seven countries: Germany, Canada, France, Japan, USA, UK and Italy in a joint statement offered Ukraine more support and additional sanctions against Russia.

President Joe Biden, who is visiting Ukraine, announced a new military aid package worth $500 million for Ukraine to continue the war. He vowed: “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia.” Buoyed by that support, short-sighted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected peace talks, declaring: “Dialogue is useless.” However, he told Biden: “Together, we will win the general and we must guarantee this year.”

In reaction, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country was withdrawing from nuclear talks with the US. However, while focusing on military victory or defeat, the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipeline that can transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia to Europe, may begin to redefine the NATO alliance as Germany, Sweden and Denmark investigate. the incident was horrible. They have determined that the damage to the pipeline was caused by a “powerful explosion due to sabotage”, and have taken the case to the UN.

He complained that the attack had a “substantial and worrying” effect on greenhouse gas emissions. Russia, backed by China, has also demanded a UN investigation and has approached the UN Security Council for an independent investigation.

However, a February 15 investigative report by Hersh concluded that the terrorist attack was carried out by the US Navy, the American Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA, and the Norwegian Navy. He reported that in June 2022, US Navy divers under a multi-state war game simulation known as BALTOPS 22, placed an explosive C4 charge in a pipeline. The explosives they claimed were thrown away three months after the signal from the sonar buoy.

Hersh said the strike was a desperate American move, adding: “The fear of losing European support in the Ukraine conflict has made the US take Europe’s only option if it wants to restart buying fuel from Russia.” The US, he said, fears that Europe may rethink the Ukrainian conflict, decide to make peace and resume oil and gas trade with Russia. He said the attack would “assume that they (Europeans) can depend too much on America, even in a crisis”. The US, he wrote, always wants to stop Russia from selling oil and gas to the rest of Europe.

The White House’s reaction was to describe Hersh’s report as “complete nonsense”. However, there has been no public effort to dispute the facts contained in the report, including military training or the agencies and facilities they claim to have used. The main headache for the US is that Hersh is one of the most famous journalists in the world and one of the most decorated in American history. He is a four-time winner: 1969, 1973, 1974, and 1981, of the George Polk Award. This prestigious award is for “courageous, bold and influential journalistic work, placing a premium on original, witty and entertaining investigative work”.

In 1970, he won the Pulitzer Prize, a prize established in 1917 for the best print journalism, literary achievement, and musical composition in America. He also won the National Magazine Award twice, and the George Orwell Award 2004. Of course, one of the consequences of the Ukrainian War was to make Europe less dependent on Russian oil and gas. Ironically, Russia has a ready market for these commodities, especially in China and India. Another is the massive sanctions that the European Union can impose on a country. The flip side is that Russia has shown that sanctions can also strengthen the economy. For example, the Ruble in 2022 instead of being weak under the weight of sanctions, is actually getting stronger, and is the best currency in the world in terms of value.

In addition, when the West thought that it was tightening the knot in Russia by using the international financial system, an alternative system was provided by the BRICS countries which include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Interestingly, in the last year of sanctions against Russia, at least a dozen countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Algeria, Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, have expressed interest in joining BRICS. It is in the collective interest of humanity to end the war in Ukraine by peaceful means because a military solution would be too expensive, dangerous and unpredictable.

Owei Lakemfa, former secretary general of African labor, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.