News

On Saturday 2nd of March, the Russian parliament granted President Putin the authority to use military force to protect Russian interests in the troubled country of Ukraine. The parliamentarian endorsement cited Crimea, where Russia maintains important military installations such as the Black Sea fleet, but covered the use of force in the entire "territory of Ukraine." No sooner had the parliament endorsed the use of force, Russian armed forces had secured much of the Crimean peninsula, which is home to ethnic Russians as well as Tartar Muslims.

Comment

Ukraine has always been at the centre of conflict between Europe and Russia, but lately the struggle has intensified with the Orange Revolution that bought Viktor Yushchenko the pro-Western President of Ukraine to power in 2005 at the expense of Russia's strong man Viktor Yanukovych. Russia reacted by engineering the return of Viktor Yanukovych in 2010 through the use of Russian gas as a political weapon.

The present Russian intervention comes after President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine was forced out of office by EU-US inspired protestors. The ousted President secretly turned up in Russia and claimed to be the legitimate leader of the Ukraine.

Reacting to Russia's interference in Ukraine, the US President Obama accused Russia of a "breach of international law" and condemned the country's military intervention, calling it a "clear violation" of Ukrainian sovereignty. The Whitehouse also stated that the US would suspend participation in preparatory meetings for the G-8 economic conference to be held in Sochi, Russia, in June, and warned of "greater political and economic isolation" for Russia.

But the real question is; what can America and Europe do to roll back the Russian take-over of Crimea. Both America and Europe failed to act decisively in 2008 as Russia invaded Georgia and effectively divided the country into two parts-albeit Russia taking a small Northern chunk of the country. Can the same happen to Ukraine i.e. division of the country where the pro-Russian Eastern part of Ukraine falls into Kremlin's control.

The measures announced by the US so far, fall short of anything meaningful that will deter Russia's aggressive behaviour towards Ukraine. This leads to the obvious conclusion that the inflated notion ‘21st century belongs to America' is no more than hype. The American inspired ‘new world order' which George Bush senior had announced after the first Gulf War is wavering before our very eyes. America's primacy is being challenged on multiple fronts. In Europe, America's allies are at odds with Washington's economic policies, view NATO's role beyond European shores with disdain and are critical of US policy in many parts of the world. Throughout the Middle East and the wider Muslim world, uprisings, instability and ant-Americanism is replacing 60 years of American stability with power vacuums. In the Far East, the rise of China is increasingly making America's traditional allies extremely nervous.

Despite such numerous challenges, America has abandoned its long-held doctrine of fighting two major wars and is in the process of redeploying much of its naval and military assets from Europe to the Far East. Russia's intervention in Ukraine now calls into question Obama's pivot to Asia strategy. This no doubt will provide Beijing with even more confidence to reassert itself in the territorial disputes with China's neighbours and increase her determination to take back Taiwan.

What is most disappointing in these turn of events is that the Muslim Ummah is still unable to take advantage of the struggles between major powers to proclaim control over its own destiny. The Muslims of Crimea who suffered immensely under Joseph Stalin will have to relive the horrors of another Russian occupation.

All that is required to prevent this abysmal act of history repeating itself is for the Muslims of Turkey to re-establish the Caliphate. The Caliphate will not only protect to the Muslims of Crimea but will genuinely offer the people of Ukraine a third alternative and that is the peace and security of Islam.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Abu Hashim