Letters to the Editor: A new India-Pakistan?

Russia launched a massive war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the fighting has resulted in over 200 civilian deaths and forced millions of Ukrainians to flee to neighbouring countries. A large percentage of them have shown up in Poland, a NATO country where US troops are preparing to provide refugee assistance. Russia began mobilizing troops and military equipment near its Ukrainian border in October, 2021, reigniting fears of an attack. From November to December, 2021, commercial satellite images, social media posts, and publicly available information revealed armour, missiles, and other heavy equipment advancing into Ukraine with no official justification.

More than one lakh Russian troops had been stationed along the Russia-Ukraine border by December, and US Intelligence sources cautioned that Russia may be plotting an assault for early 2022. Russia's Foreign Ministry released a series of demands in mid-December 2021, requesting that the United States and NATO suspend all military activities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, pledge to no more NATO expansion toward Russia, and prohibit Ukraine from joining NATO hereafter.

The United States warned that Russia was planning an invasion of Ukraine, citing Russia's expanding military posture on the Ukrainian border. Putin then dispatched soldiers to Luhansk and Donetsk, rebel territories in Eastern Ukraine held in part by Russian-backed separatists, stating that the troops were there to maintain the peace. A few days later, the US imposed sanctions on the Luhansk and Donetsk areas, as well as the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Putin declared the start of a full-scale land, sea, and air assault of Ukraine, targeting Ukrainian military installations and towns across the nation, during a UN Security Council meeting aimed at discouraging Russia from striking Ukraine. Since then, Biden has announced tough penalties in collaboration with European partners, targeting four of Russia's top banks, the country's oil and gas industry, and transfer of American technology.

The United Nations and other nations have condemned Russian activities and continue to back Ukrainian soldiers. The US has imposed increasing restrictions on Putin's and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's financial assets, as well as suspending Russian banks from the global SWIFT financial messaging system and prohibiting US imports of Russian oil and natural gas. After Zelensky's speech to Congress on March 16, Joe Biden pledged an extra $800 million in military support to Ukraine. NATO military ministers are working on plans to bolster troops on the alliance's eastern border, raising the overall number of NATO soldiers.

Direct talks between Russia and Ukraine are progressing, although no official agreement has been reached.

Ipsita Roy,

Cotton University,

Guwahati.

Strange bedfellows

Strange bedfellows literally means when two strangers share a bed. Now with the change of political scenario in the nation, there appears to be no permanent foe or friend as evidenced by the recent developments, especially in Maharashtra and Assam. In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and the BJP were time-tested allies when Shiv Sena was under Late Bal Thackeray, the firebrand pro-Hindu leader, until Uddhav Thackeray deceived the alliance to fulfil his personal ambition and allied with their bitter rival, the Congress. To become the Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray overnight compromised with Hindutva ideology of his party and became secular and joined hands with the Congress and NCP. The very same political development is taking place in Assam as well. With the formation of UMF, which later became AIUDF, the Congress became edgy because of the loss of linguistic minority votes. Late Tarun Gogoi, the three-time Chief Minister, once openly thundered: "Who is Badruddin?" But with the entry of his son into politics, just as in Shiv Sena's case, things changed overnight. Both the Congress and AIUDF became allies to fight the BJP in the last Assembly election, but their brief honeymoon was over when the alliance got routed in the polls. However, once again, they are coming closer with the advent of the Rajya Sabha poll. It has once again proved that 'power is a big cementing force'.

Are they not strange bedfellows?

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.