US President Biden says he will not send any troops to Ukraine, not even for an evacuation mission, because otherwise there is a risk of a “world war”. For Ukraine, however, the situation is becoming increasingly threatening. A commentary by Georg Anastasiadis.
US President Biden says he will not risk world war in Ukraine by sending US troops into the country. The sentence is reassuring and unsettling at the same time: the leader of the western world logically rules out a world war – and yet the president, especially in Germany, where many believe they can still go about their business as usual, causes a moment of shock by using the dread word puts “World War” in his mouth.
Putin had also warned against a direct confrontation with NATO. Of course it must not and will not come to that. If the Kremlin rolls its tanks into Ukraine, Kiev will not receive NATO military assistance, otherwise Europe would be plunged into catastrophe. But Biden’s choice of words shows how serious the situation is in western capitals. Up to 70 percent of the entire Russian army is now in front of the Ukraine border, a formidable force. Under the guise of the maneuvers with Belarus, Putin’s army has moved up to 35 kilometers from the neighboring country. But it’s about much more than just Ukraine. It’s about Putin’s attempt to reverse the collapse of the Soviet Union, which he sees as a “historical catastrophe”.
His pact with China’s head of state Xi, which was sealed at the Olympics on February 4, is also part of a global conflict between the West and the autocracies Russia and China that is heading towards its climax. Russia’s immeasurable wealth of natural resources, combined with China’s technological leadership, form a superpower that the weakened and divided West will find difficult to match, whether or not Putin decides to invade Ukraine. Both Putin and Xi conspired at the Olympics to give each other free rein. If Ukraine falls, the lights may soon go out in Taiwan as well.
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