By Andrew Bakoraho Kakura

The Security Council of United Nations which is primarily responsible for the maintenance of global peace and security is currently under intense pressure to rethink its efforts and cause sustainable and durable peace and security as the world faces the highest number of violent conflicts since the Second World War with slightly more than two billion people (25 person of global population) living in conflict areas.

“The world is at a key inflection point in history with the UN raison d’être” under grave attack,” Amina Jane Mohammed, Deputy Secretary – General of UN, underscored during 9250^th UN Security Meeting in January, 2023. Together with other members, she called for more investments in people-centred developments as such remain prerequisites for shared prosperity.

Examining the history of global violent conflicts (wars) and its causes, what representatives of UNSC continue to emphasise as key driver of global conflicts is just laughable. They are not naive but precisely don’t want to displease their bosses by telling the ugly truth regarding the main driver of global conflicts out of fear of reprisal. Without the fear of consequences of truth speaking, the impunity of exercised by the Permanent members of UNSC (P5) whose imperial interests continue to drive invasions of sovereign nations, should have been emphasised as the number one cause of global violent wars during such meetings.

Using veto powers, the P5 continue to rescind resolutions approved against their interests and move ahead with military invasions not only in their neighbourhood but also to countries located thousands of miles away.

Since formation of UNSC, in the name of guarding its interests, Russia have used veto powers 120 times, followed by USA with 82, UK at 29 times while China and France appear with least vetoed resolutions.

Efforts to review the powers and membership of UNSC in a bid to limit excesses and impunity being perpetuated by the P5 have not been successful.

Although USA, a renowned aggressor, has mobilised its allies and resources to condemn Russia for its actions in Ukraine, the latter is actually doing what the former and her traditional allies have persistently done freely and illegally world over.

In fear of escalation of wars and to avert human catastrophe, global powers like Russia, China and India always avoided interfering in US –engineered military invasions. During the illegal invasion of Iraq, China, France and China opposed it but never acted like how USA is doing in Ukraine by arming Iraq.

This is why USA’s relentless arming of Ukraine with sophisticated weapons to continue fighting a nuclear armed Russia, should worry every one globally.

Bearing in mind the previous catastrophic USA atomic bombing of Japanese in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that caused irreversible effects among human beings reflected in today’s deformities among new born children.

This being the same USA, been proven to have invaded almost 15 Countries since the end of Second World War with latest victims being Cuba (1961) Panama (1989), Iraq (1991 & 2003), Yugoslavia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Libya and Syria (2011) purposely to guard, realign and enforce her interests through regime or economic system change or both leaving millions dead, economies destroyed and unbearable-human- suffering.

Given this background, it’s high time citizens of Ukraine questioned the agenda of their president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and his allies especially when he continues to turn down peace initiatives amidst visible heavy military losses, economic destruction, catastrophic floods as dams get destroyed, death of innocent citizens, refugee crisis with 5million displaced internally and those moving out reaching 8millions according to UN office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).

Why ignore peace amidst a costly war in which none of its escalators would guarantee a military victory against Russia? What does the Ukrainian leader expect from Russia with allegations that USA bombed the Nord stream 2 like they previously warned so as to end “Russian cheap gas and oil to Germany and other EU nations”?

Like the Sixteenth US President, Abraham Lincoln said, “Wars don’t just happen but get planned and executed by the high ranked and profiled persons in high positions in leadership.” The motivation of USA and her allies regarding fuelling of Russian/Ukraine only points capital gains targeted by industrial military complex of US and EU whose agenda remains monetary and capital gain through maximisation of weapon sales definitely with aid of policy makers under capitalism, entrepreneurs, bankroll politicians during elections.

Like all other Western backed wars, this one too presents the lobbyists and US military - industrial complex an opportunity to sell weapons and maximise profit.

A BBC report dated February, 2023, shows that US Parliament, Congress, appropriated more than $112bn (£92.47bn) in the year 2022 alone of which almost USD 46.6BN is for the military aid. A Similar source indicates that UK comes second with $5.1bn as the leading generous Ukraine military donor, followed by the EU ($3.3b). How will they get it back is another question that needs an answer from Ukrainians?

To maintain western imperial hegemonic system, kick-started around 15^th century with slavery central to it, as it helped build their capitalistic economies, what USA and its traditional allies are spending on Ukraine is a just “a drop of water in an ocean” compared to USD 2.313 trillion spent on the invading war and other recorded operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2001 to 2022 (Brown University). A Whooping USD 1.1Trilion reported by the similar source above was to have been the cost of the 2003–2010 Iraq war in addition to the 1.5m murdered innocent Iraqis.

Contrary to Western much-publicized narrative, Russian legitimate grievances against Ukraine and its Western allies date back to times when sustained Western financial support fuelled anti-Kremlin violent uprisings that eventually ejected pro- Moscow leaders like former President Viktor Yanukovych from office in 2004 and 2014.

The anger generated then especially among 11 million Russian speaking regions largely from Eastern Ukraine can't be delinked from the latest developments of cessations.

As hostilities between world's two major and fierce nuclear rivals pile, peaceful dialogue must be emphasised by all peace lovers globally.

The writer is a researcher and an advocate of progressive policies.