It's all over the news. Everyone with even the most remote knowledge of current affairs knows about it. Yes, it's an on-going story that the media has been droning on about for months and months and months. Most people, naturally, are probably indifferent to the situation; after all, it doesn't affect their personal lives, does it? Perhaps not. Perhaps so...
 
I'm talking about the Ukraine crisis. A crisis we are repeatedly told is entirely the fault of Russia - warmongering, angry, bitter 'Mother Russia' in another desperate attempt to expand its already huge land mass even further, right? Well, that's certainly what we are told - and it has some truth to it no doubt. But, we have been given this Western perspective and had it repeated to us over and over by politicians and newspapers alike, just to highlight and emphasise that this point is really the only viewpoint worth exploring, worth believing.
 
I don't for one minute condone Russia's foreign policy or, indeed, its increasingly homophobic and isolationist internal policies. Let us not forget that Russia does very much have blood soaked hands over the second Chechnya war bombing campaign of 1999, a campaign led by the infamous Vladimir Putin. Let us also remember that the monstrous murderer Assad, of Syria, is propped up by Russia - for financial purposes, of course. Russia is not a 'good', peaceful country and it probably won't be for a very long time.
 
But Russia is an awful lot less immoral than it was under communism. It has come a very long way in its journey from a hugely backward, Cold War propelling communist state to a wealthier capitalist country with no gulags or pogroms currently in operation.
 
It's worth remembering, too, that Russians may perceive the US as 'immoral' and as a nation addicted to war. I don't necessarily agree with this sentiment, but it's certainly a viewpoint with respectability; one cannot simply forget the Iraq war, the invasion of Afghanistan, nor can they be oblivious to the never-ending drone strikes on Yemen and Pakistan - conducted by our beloved ally, the USA.
 
If the West really was whiter than white, it may have some credibility in its condemnation of Russia. But it's not whiter than white and even if it was, is attacking Russia a wise move when Russia is the second most powerful country in the entire world? Does the US really believe its sanctions will cause the Russians to rethink their entire external strategies, just to keep the US happy and avoid being made to sit on the naughty step? I think not. Does the US not know Russia is a proud, patriotic country that certainly won't be dictated to by it?
 
No, these Western sanctions, as well as being totally counterproductive (as Russia just responds accordingly, sanctioning us in return) are of no benefit whatsoever to achieving world peace.
 
Russia has enough allies, enough power, enough influence to be only marginally effected by sanctions. This superior Western voice harking down at Russia will only cause relations to plummet further (as we have seen happening) - making Russia more angry, more determined to disobey the US and do what it thinks is right for it, more likely to create another Cold War. Is a Cold War, part two what we want? Really?
 
Also, let us explore why Russia might be angered by the new pro-Western Kiev government, created after an illegal coup. Well, Ukraine was always a part of Russia. Not just any part of Russia, but a hugely important and symbolic part. Not temporarily, but for centuries right up until the early 1990s when the USSR collapsed. Ukraine borders Russia; it has millions of ethnic Russians within its borders and it is of immense historical importance to greater Russia - so, of course, Russia does not want to see the nation spontaneously drift away from its sphere of influence, into the hands of the EU and the US, the rival, the enemy. One should remember that, in the same way our nations view Russia with suspicion and worry, Russia views us this way too. It feels uncomfortable at the prospect of what it sees as a part of it betraying it.
 
Would the US be happy to see, say, Cuba (a bordering nation with a similar history) roll into the hands of Russian influence? Well, history has the answer to that - hence Russia's upset at Western attempts to Westernise Ukraine.
 
Peace must prevail. Personally I think Ukraine should be split up democratically - thus allowing all the ethnic Russians to be a part of Russia, as opposed to a Western Ukraine they despise.
 
Russia is not a friendly country - but it would be a step in the right direction if we tried to understand the Russian perspective a little more and see that the US is hardly an angelic nation itself. It would be good if, rather than anger a powerful rival, the West treated it with a degree of respect and cooperation - as well as the necessary amounts caution that History teaches us we shouldn't let go of. Because, the last thing anyone wants is another Cold War (or worse), is it?

 

By Sebastian Monblat, Ewell Castle School