The war between Russia and Ukraine has already broken out. This morning Moscow has attacked a score of Ukrainian cities, explosions that have already left dozens dead. At this point, several questions arise. How far is Russia capable of going? And NATO? What was the last conflict of this nature in Europe?
Maximiliano Fuentes Coderadoctor in Contemporary History and professor at the University of Girona, believes that You would have to go back to the Second World War. However, she assures that this conflict has little to do with her. He also cites the Yugoslav wars: “The Yugoslav wars are comparable but it is an internal conflict that assumes forms of civil war. In this case it is the intervention of a power over a small sovereign territory. We will see how it is solved but apparently everything points to other world powers intervening to defend the territory. I wouldn’t dare to say anything else”.
Thus, the expert insists that the Ukraine-Russia conflict little to do with world wars. In the case of the First World War, Ukraine is like other European territories: “A place where a new nationalism is reborn, which claims its own state during the end of the end. It goes through the process in the Russian civil war that there is a Ukrainian state that lasts four years. It is divided into what will be the Soviet Union and Poland. The Bukovina of Romania, let’s say”.
However, the doctor of Contemporary History points out that this conflict must be analyzed for what it is: a propaganda war. Thus, it is possible to recover the memory of Ukraine. He points out that in some territories of the most European part of Ukraine, the memory of the Russian as an invader or as a threat remains. “During World War II, the occupation of Ukraine by Nazi Germany was produced as a deeply questionable process and one that is behind the evidence: the Ukrainian army is linked to a fascist ideology. A part of the population of Ukraine collaborates with the Nazi troops for the rejection of the Russian: for the deportations, for the mass arrests, for the total famine resulting from the Soviet policy in the territories of Ukraine and Ukrainian nationalism, conceived as the antithesis of the Russian”.
This is justified Putin’s identification with the Ukrainian Nazis. “A kind of recovery of the rhetoric of the Second World War. But the question does not pass here, it is not fascism or anti-fascism”. For the expert, the important thing is the consequences of the cold war: the Paris agreements of the 90s. What is under discussion for Putin is this. “Nobody wants be the one who starts the war.” Everyone says they are being attacked, including Putin. “From Putin’s point of view, Russia attacks because it considers it an interference by NATO by not respecting the Paris agreements,” says Fuentes. According to these agreements, which took place after the cold war, NATO would not seek to influence ex-Soviet territories, such as Ukraine. From the point of view of NATO, the United States and the European Union, continues Fuentes, it is considered that Russia has interfered “in sovereign territories, as is the case with Ukraine.”
How long could the Ukraine-Russia conflict last?
Maximiliano Fuentes Codera does not dare to predict an end date for this conflict and uses the example of the First World War. “If we recover the First World War, everyone believed that the conflict would be over in a few months and that it would be over by Christmas. The reality is that it lasted 4 years.”
The expert believes that The crux of the matter is how far the retaliation of Europe and the United States will go, if there are. “If they follow a policy like the years before World War II. That is, of appeasement and trying to please Putin or if they decide to stand up. They could also opt for stronger sanctions and even a military intervention by powers that would change the entire political map. We would go into unknown territory”. In this sense, he points out that China does not seem to intervene. However, he believes that it is still an open process and that, in the event that Russia can occupy a part of Ukraine the door would be opened to other world conflicts: “How can it be China and Taiwan”.
Source: Lasexta
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
