Ukraine war shows that nationalism is alive in the West

A fortnight or so ago, a German journalist contacted me for my recollections of the Ukraine conflict. In a question reminiscent of where-were-you-when-JFK-was-shot, he asked me my immediate reaction to the Russian attack on Ukraine a year ago. The answer disappointed him because it was apparent that February 24, 2022, wasn’t etched in my memory in any meaningful way.The ongoing, and yet inconclusive, spat between Russia and Ukraine has had a profound effect on the global economy. Predictably, it has also cast its shadow on India and affected the momentum of the country’s post-Covid recovery. Yet, apart from the first month of the conflict when the national focus was evacuating the thousands of students from different parts of Ukraine, there was little emotional involvement with the problem in India. Even the discussions in Parliament and the standing committee centred on the modalities of the evacuation. The rescue of Indian students was, quite rightly, showcased as a big achievement and evidence of the government attaching topmost priority to the safety and security of its citizens stationed overseas. However, apart from a demonstration of this commitment and the external affairs minister’s forceful assertion that our foreign policy would be guided by an unwavering defence of national interests, the conflict in Ukraine was viewed as someone else’s war.A year later, this perception hasn’t changed, although there are tentative (and somewhat naïve) noises about India facilitating a ceasefire. India has stubbornly resisted all western pressure to either downgrade its relationship with Moscow or join the embargo on the purchase of Russian oil and gas. Initially this detachment from the anti-Putin hysteria generated in the West was regarded as odd and unworthy of a democracy. Now, it is being viewed as a divergence that shouldn’t affect India’s economic relationship with the West. In effect, there is now a tacit acknowledgement that being a responsible member of the global community doesn’t involve either loathing Vladimir Putin or going starry-eyed over Ukraine’s show-off President Zelenskyy.As the war meanders its way through the physical devastation of Ukraine and the mounting casualties of Russian soldiers, the initial flutter of exuberance has given way to some awkward assessments.First, it is becoming increasingly clear that the conflict is becoming a proxy war involving Russia and Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). The unending supply of sophisticated weaponry from the West to Ukraine isn’t merely to prevent a Russian takeover of a sovereign country, it is also to test the efficacy of the latest weapons of mass destruction. The contention that the arms industry of the West has a vested interest in preventing Ukraine from meeting Russia half-way shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. For those who love history, a loose analogy with the Spanish Civil War is worth considering. If the conflict persists for much longer, the presence of International Brigades—as was the case in the ISIS jihad in Syria and Iraq—fighting to preserve a small country against a formidable foe could be a possibility. It has been some 50 years since Vietnam became a symbol of resistance to US arrogance. Zelenskyy is more clown than a Ho Chi Minh, but strange are the ways of a localised event being transformed into a cause. There is also some basis to the suspicion that Europeans are less anxious than the US to prolong Russian involvement in a costly and unrewarding conflict. How these sentiments will play out if Russia’s war effort is boosted by military hardware from China is anybody’s guess. ShowBlurbsSecondly, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has also been a fierce propaganda war involving both sides. Naturally, given the relatively limited reach of its media, Russia was always at a disadvantage. To complicate matters further, Russian media was systematically hounded out of European countries by the force of sanctions. Although the western media too finds it challenging to be consistently heard inside Russia, its insistence that the war to reclaim Ukraine for Mother Russia is deeply unpopular inside Putin-land appears to be an over-simplification. With the media on both sides being unwaveringly partisan in approach, it is more than likely that realism is being clouded by propaganda. For all the talk of Europe having made the transition to post-national status, the media and popular responses on both sides in the Ukraine war indicates that nationalism is alive and kicking in the West. When it involves targeting a hard-faced adversary and standing up for those who love Nato and the European Union (EU), nationalism becomes an enlightened defence of democracy and national sovereignty. George Soros’s jihad against Hungary’s Viktor Orban is a case in point. But when practised by ‘lesser breeds�?and involves challenging ‘liberal�?certitudes, it becomes ugly majoritarianism.Read more articles by the writer here