Invading the Neighbor: It is unjustifiable!

Russia has launched a devastating attack on its neighbor, Ukraine—a sovereign

democracy of 44 million people in Eastern Europe where it borders with Russia.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has led the whole country into a political crisis and the whole
civilians into a miserable life situation. Explosions and gunfire rocked major cities
across the country and hundreds of civilians have been killed. Thousands have been lost
their belongings, living-spaces and flown to neighboring countries for survival.
Whatever be the reason, no war is justifiable especially when it happens against its own
neighbor. We need to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine and its people.
Of course, this was is an outcome of the geopolitical warfare between Russia and the
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). European Union under the leadership of
the United States of America has been trying to control the military power and the
economic power in Europe and West Asia. Russia renders the strategy of NATO to
include Ukraine in its alliance as the political strategy to expand its military stations at
the borders of Russia. After the dissolution of the former Soviet Union in 1991, the
European Union has taken effective measures to block Russia to control the geopolitical
situation in the region and constituted NATO as an ideological solidarity against the
communist countries.
Realizing and recognizing the political threat, Russia under the dictatorship of Vladimir
Putin has tried to block Ukraine from joining the European Union and offer military
stations for political control. Putin’s narration that he wants to make Ukraine free from
‘authoritarian and neo-Nazi government’ is a political narration to justify his deplorable
invasion. As a global community of justice, what we need to demand Russia to stop its
military invasion on its neighboring country and seek the possible ways of collateral
dialogues and discussions to settle down the issue diplomatically. Economic and
political expansionism have forced imperial forces to invade peoples lives and their
nations which is not at all tenable for a global community as it is trying to overcome the
havoc created by the Pandemic.
Any war which is justifiable or unjustifiable denies the peoples’ right to live in their own
life-worlds. It spreads a life of mourning and grief. As Judith Butler opines, ‘any war
whether it is a war on justice or war on terror, makes innocent lives grievable and
precarious. It is detrimental for people becoming subjects of freedom’ (Precarious Life,
2004). This is the kairos moment for the global community to condemn all kinds of
invasion and incursion upon the lives of the common people and foster a culture of
political solidarity in favor of the war victims.
Neighbor is not be considered as a threat; but as complementary to envisage a life in its
continuity and relationality.
CISRS, Bangalore