And Mr Putin fell for the bait

Caveat: there is no justification for war. To a large extent, yours sincerely is a non-starter as far as international relations and politics is concerned. The closest one has come to knowing anything about international politics and diplomacy was when yours sincerely did an elective course in his undergraduate days at Zaria; I think it was HIS 306 or so- History of Europe between 1500-1945 and another one in Classics, at Ibadan; CLC 707: Rome and North\North-western Africa (I hope I am right on both counts). On this note, I plead that readers forgive and pardon my naivety on the subject matter. It is highly and extremely regrettable, agonising and tragic that President Putin whom a lot of people including the present writer holds in very high regards failed to read in between the lines and eventually fell to the machinations of this whole American-led gang up against him. The man should have decoded right from the politics of Nord Stream 2 where the ‘all knowing’ George Washington country and their cohorts attempted everything possible under the sun in order to thwart that project; to the geo-politics of making Ukraine becoming part of NATO and all what not. They even tried and are still trying to use one of Putin’s brother against him in the name of opposition. These guys have all along been strategising on how to alienate him; or does it mean he did not know that? Unfortunately, Mr. Putin trying to show himself not to be seen as a weak leader eventually fell into the trap. Clearly, all the mess we find ourselves in the present circumstance appears to be a premediated and well-orchestrated agenda, especially judging from the manner and spontaneity in which sanctions have been imposed on Russia and Putin from left, right, front and back. The crisis was an avoidable one, unfortunately, those that call the shots here had an ulterior motive, particularly because of their envy and hatred for a prosperous Russian aristocratic order. The West and particularly America cannot brood any form of competitiveness and opposition. Holding a contrary worldview and value system to the West led by America is anathema to existence. What a World!

As one watches with nostalgia and nausea the different speeches of the leaders of thought of the so called free and liberal world, yours truly is baffled with consternation especially by their level of rhetoric, propaganda and outright hypocrisy. From the speech of Boris Johnson, to that of Charles Michel, Josep Borrel, Ursula Von der Leyen and finally, Joe Biden, other than the rhetoric, delusions, and hysteria they keep spewing, one sees nothing of substantial value that will be of use to the Ukrainians in this trying moments. All one could see is pure deception. It was those kind of big and bogus talk that misled Zelenskyy to the present avoidable and unnecessary tragedy. While these men and women were busy mounting the rostrum with all kinds of propaganda and blackmail, Putin and his army were busy mounting gun trucks, and painfully though, killing innocent civilians and destroying valuables. These so called opinion makers are busy speaking grammar at the expense of the lives of innocent Ukrainians. Pathetic! Hear Charles Michel, E.U council president; “this is geopolitical terrorism” and madam Ursula on her part bleated that: “Ukraine is holding for us the torch of freedom” while Borell boasted that “now we are mobilising arms to Ukraine”.  Really? A nation is under siege and shelling from the tanks of one heartless Putin and someone is deceiving us with the propaganda of freedom. What sort of freedom is that? When of a truth, these scoundrels mouthing freedom are the real threat to people’s freedom the world over. All because they are determined to make everyone hold their worldviews, value systems and are so determined to indoctrinate every human on the surface of the earth at whatever cost! Painfully, beyond this rhetoric and diplomatic scaffolding, Putin and his Kremlin are unperturbed and unruffled because they seem to be prepared for it. Again, it is the innocent that keeps bearing the brunt.

Another painful take away from this war is that all the people beating the drums and singing the songs of war for both Putin and Zelenskyy to dance to cannot and will not be able to fire even a single shot on Russia in this war. Ridiculous! The truth is that the US and Europe nudged the comic actor cum politician into this unnecessary and irresponsible war. Now the man is facing the brunt of Putin and there is virtually nothing these superpowers can do about it than to rant from thousands of miles away. They cannot even step their toes on Ukraine; Boris Johnson displayed this cowardice by stopping at Warsaw, not to talk more of going to see their stooge in Kyiv or even firing a single shot on Putin’s soldiers and tanks. Is this not what is called deception? I feel for the Ukrainian people because their president has been misled to use them as pawns on the chessboard of rogue diplomacy and dubious international politicking.

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Why are the Americans bent on circumventing and distorting all forms of complex cultures and heritage in the bid to force down their values and heritage down our throats in the name of been on a “civilising mission”? The West, especially America thinks that their views and value systems should be the template for the world order. Those values they cherished so much like democracy, speech freedom, capitalism, same sex entanglement, human rights etc. should be held sacrosanct in every society of the modern world. Everyone must play according to their scheming and shenanigans. The moment you hold a divergent view you are denounced, denigrated and demonised. One wonders if the whole concept of their freedom connotes that one must not be a stereotype and a zombie. This idea of Europe and America (the free world) trying to blackmail, intimidate and demonise people and societies that refuse to play to their whims and caprices is at the heart of many of the crisis we witness in the world today.

Mr. Zelenskyy please stop the ego and grandstanding and come down from that high horse of deception and delusion and make peace with Mr. Putin. You have lost nothing if you stoop at this point and whatever happens from this point, you are already a hero.

Today, the world over, suffers from the promptings of American gangsterism because it conceives itself as the moral beacon of the world. You see, the West and their allies have misled us several times, with some of their misadventure bringing about irrecoverable loss and distrust to our world.  They are a major cause of turmoil and turbulence in the world today. Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Egypt and many more in the not too distant past. Today, they accuse Russia of been an aggressor whereas they are the real aggressors around here. The world has to be careful with the decoy of the West.

It seems as if the Ukrainians and Zelenskyy are being naïve and possibly stupid too. They should put on their thinking cap. Based on geography, history, politics, culture and even kinship they are more Russian than European or American. Do they know that they are a product of one civilisation which is been set against each other by a decisive interloper and imposter? The Ukrainians should just envisage the consequences of a Russia trying to be an interloper between Canada and America. Or the Russians trying to police Canada all in the name of a security pact! Impossible! Methink it is in their best interest to be an ally and align with the Russians who culturally, archaeologically and historically are their kith and kin. Mr. Zelenskyy please stop the ego and grandstanding and come down from that high horse of deception and delusion and make peace with Mr. Putin. You have lost nothing if you stoop at this point and whatever happens from this point, you are already a hero. The truth is that you never envisaged Putin would make good his threat because of your shared DNA. Please toe the path of peace, for your people’s sake.

Ade, a lecturer at the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Jos, writes in via imogaimoga21@gmail.com