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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/07/from-korea-to-libya-on-the-future-of-ukraine-and-natos-neverending-wars/">counterpunch.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">From Korea to Libya: On the Future of Ukraine and NATO’s Neverending Wars</h1>
<span class="gmail-post_author_intro">by</span> <span class="gmail-post_author"><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/ramzy-baroud/" rel="nofollow">Ramzy Baroud</a></span> - April 7, 2022<br></div>
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<div id="gmail-attachment_239293" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-239293" src="https://www.counterpunch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/6839729968_31ea17398f_c-680x454.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="262"></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-239293" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Photograph Source: Antti T. Nissinen – <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a></p></div>
<p>Much has been said and written about media bias and double standards
in the West’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war, when compared with
other wars and military conflicts across the world, especially in the
Middle East and the Global South. Less obvious is how such hypocrisy is a
reflection of a much larger phenomenon that governs the West’s
relationship to war and conflict zones.</p>
<p>On March 19, Iraq commemorated the <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/bush-announces-launch-of-operation-iraqi-freedom-march-19-2003-236134">19th anniversary</a> of the US invasion which killed, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-deaths-survey-idUSL3048857920080130">modest estimates</a>,
over a million Iraqis. The consequences of that war were equally
devastating as it destabilized the entire Middle East region, leading to
various civil and proxy wars. The Arab world is reeling under that
horrific experience to this day.</p>
<p>Also, on March 19, the <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/19/barack-obama-libya-airstrikes-1224550">eleventh anniversary</a> of the NATO war on Libya was commemorated and followed, five days later, by the <a href="https://balkaninsight.com/2019/03/22/78-days-of-fear-remembering-natos-bombing-of-yugoslavia/">23rd anniversary</a>
of the NATO war on Yugoslavia. Like every NATO-led war since the
inception of the alliance in 1949, these wars resulted in widespread
devastation and tragic death tolls.</p>
<p>None of these wars, starting with the NATO <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/korean-conflict">intervention</a>
in the Korean Peninsula in 1950, have stabilized any of the warring
regions. Iraq is still as vulnerable to terrorism and outside military
interventions and, in many ways, remains an occupied country. Libya is
divided among various warring camps, and a return to civil war remains a
real possibility.</p>
<p>Yet, enthusiasm for war remains high, as if over seventy years of
failed military interventions have not taught us any meaningful lessons.
Daily, news headlines tell us that the US, the UK, Canada, Germany,
Spain or some other western power <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60774098">have decided</a> to ship a new kind of ‘<a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/lethal-weapons-to-ukraine-a-primer/">lethal weapons</a>’ to Ukraine. Billions of dollars have already been allocated by Western countries to contribute to the war in Ukraine.</p>
<p>In contrast, very little has been done to offer platforms for
diplomatic, non-violent solutions. A handful of countries in the Middle
East, Africa and Asia have offered mediation or insisted on a diplomatic
solution to the war, <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/us-china-call-for-diplomatic-solution-to-ukraine-war-but-differing-views-remain">arguing</a>,
as China’s foreign ministry reiterated on March 18, that “all sides
need to jointly support Russia and Ukraine in having dialogue and
negotiation that will produce results and lead to peace”.</p>
<p>Though the violation of the sovereignty of any country is illegal under international law, and is a stark violation of the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter">United Nations Charter</a>,
this does not mean that the only solution to violence is
counter-violence. This cannot be truer in the case of Russia and
Ukraine, as a state of <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/conflict-ukraines-donbas-visual-explainer">civil war</a>
has existed in Eastern Ukraine for eight years, harvesting thousands of
lives and depriving whole communities from any sense of peace or
security. NATO’s weapons cannot possibly address the root causes of this
communal struggle. On the contrary, they can only fuel it further.</p>
<p>If more weapons were the answer, the conflict would have been
resolved years ago. According to the BBC, the US has already allocated
$2.7bn to Ukraine over the last eight years, long before the current
war. This massive arsenal <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/lethal-weapons-to-ukraine-a-primer/">included</a> “anti-tank and anti-armor weapons … US-made sniper (rifles), ammunition and accessories”.</p>
<p>The speed with which additional military aid has poured into Ukraine
following the Russian military operations on February 24 is
unprecedented in modern history. This raises not only political or legal
questions, but moral questions as well – the eagerness to fund war and
the lack of enthusiasm to help countries rebuild.</p>
<p>After 21 years of US war and <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/20-years-after-invasion-it-begins-where-it-ended-in-afghanistan/2384562">invasion</a>
of Afghanistan, resulting in a humanitarian and refugee crisis, Kabul
is now largely left on its own. Last September, the UN refugee agency <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1099112">warned</a>
that “a major humanitarian crisis is looming in Afghanistan”, yet
nothing has been done to address this ‘looming’ crisis, which has
greatly worsened since then.</p>
<p>Afghani refugees are rarely welcomed in Europe. The same is true for
refugees coming from Iraq, Syria, Libya, Mali and other conflicts that
directly or indirectly involved NATO. This hypocrisy is accentuated when
we consider <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1087602">international initiatives</a> that aim to support war refugees, or rebuild the economies of war-torn nations.</p>
<p>Compare the lack of enthusiasm in supporting war-torn nations with
the West’s unparalleled euphoria in providing weapons to Ukraine. Sadly,
it will not be long before the millions of Ukrainian refugees who have
left their country in recent weeks become a <a href="https://www.wvi.org/newsroom/ukraine/world-vision-warns-growing-human-trafficking-risk-women-fleeing-ukraine">burden</a> on Europe, thus subjected to the same kind of mainstream criticism and far-right attacks.</p>
<p>While it is true that the West’s attitude towards Ukraine is <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/02/26/cbs-news-charlie-dagata-apologizes-for-saying-ukraine-more-civilized-than-iraq-afghanistan/">different</a>
from its attitude towards victims of western interventions, one has to
be careful before supposing that the ‘privileged’ Ukrainains will
ultimately be better off than the victims of war throughout the Middle
East. As the war drags on, Ukraine will continue to suffer, either the
direct impact of the war or the collective trauma that will surely
follow. The amassing of NATO weapons in Ukraine, as was the case of
Libya, will likely backfire. In Libya, <a href="https://www.sgr.org.uk/resources/war-libya-role-arms-and-oil-industries">NATO’s weapons</a> fueled the country’s decade-long <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/civil-war-libya">civil war</a>.</p>
<p>Ukraine needs peace and security, not perpetual war that is designed
to serve the strategic interests of certain countries or military
alliances. Though military invasions must be wholly rejected, whether in
Iraq or Ukraine, turning Ukraine into another convenient zone of a
perpetual geopolitical struggle between NATO and Russia is not the
answer.</p>
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<em>Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “</em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/These-Chains-Will-Broken-Palestinian/dp/1949762092"><em>These Chains Will Be Broken</em></a><em>:
Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons”
(Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research
Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim
University (IZU). His website is </em><a href="http://www.ramzybaroud.net/"><em>www.ramzybaroud.net</em></a>
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