The agreement reached between Russia and Ukraine on creating a passage for Ukraine to export her grains to the rest of the world is instructive. The agreement was reached on Friday, July 22, 2022 in Istanbul, the capital of Turkey, where the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres were in attendance as witnesses. The implication of the agreement was the allowance granted Ukraine to export her grains to the rest of the world, especially Africa and the Middle East, to ease the lingering food crisis which has almost caused a hunger crisis in most parts of the world.
In an interview published in the 23rd edition of Livinghope magazine with the title “Blame NATO and the West for the Invasion of Ukraine,” it was said that if NATO and the West had steered clear and stopped being in the way of peace overtures, the Russia-Ukraine War would have been ended, for they were considered the masterminds of the war in the first place. This development where Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement on the round table to solve the food problems in the world is a clear indication that if not for the intervention of NATO and the West, peace would have returned to these two warring countries.
Take it or leave it, It is important to stress also that the president of Russia, Vladmir Putin, is not as insensitive and reckless as the western media had painted him. What is clear is that he was only reacting against the conspiracy of both NATO and the West against his country. The United Nations should be bold and courageous to take note of this and learn an important lesson from this development—that most of the crises in the world are caused by some of the superpowers trying to prove a point of superiority and with a view to extending their influence over the less-privileged and the countries that they considered as threats to their political ambition.
Turkey deserves all commendations and should be seen as a great and powerful country by the feat it has achieved in bringing Russia and Ukraine to a round table and with positive results. It is now understandable why some of the African countries chose to be neutral or refused to cast their vote in support of a resolution that was prepared at the United Nations against Russia. African countries, though considered developing or poor, still have their minds and the rights to vote in whatever direction they deem fit and positive without being coerced or influenced by the developed, rich, and the powerful countries of the world.
It is now crystal clear that the root cause of most of the problems of the world is the lack of justice, equity, and fairness. Most countries of the world are now being forced to take sides and positions, and this development will not be in the interest of the main objective behind the formation or establishment of the United Nations.
The expansion of NATO, if critically analyzed, is not in the interest of a peaceful coexistence, and therefore should be discontinued. One thing that is clear from the development so far, especially since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the attendant sanctions imposed on Russia, is that it is impossible to isolate Russia. Rather than the West investing billions of dollars and pounds in the purchase of weapons of war in support of Ukraine against Russia, investing this humongous amount of dollars and pounds in the direction of counterinsurgency and terrorism would be a wise decision geared toward guaranteeing peace all over the world. Most of the African countries, which are considered as democracies, are being threatened by one form of terrorism or the other. Coming together under one umbrella in the name of peace and unity and confronting the menace of terrorism, regardless of where it is taking place, will have been a wise decision instead of taking sides in the war between Russia and Ukraine. This same example of how Turkey championed a successful peace process between Russia and Ukraine can be replicated in the case of Israel and Palestine as well as other parts of the world where the achievement of permanent peace has been elusive. If the saying of President Joe Biden that “we lead by the power of example rather than the example of power” is anything to go by, suffice it to say that standing in the way of peace is leading by the example of power rather than by the power of example. This is hypocritical and a division from the wisdom of the ages and the word of God.
It is time to give peace a chance, and eschew all tendencies toward domination and the imposition of an ideology on people and countries of the world against their wishes. There is nothing to fear other than God because God is the giver of power and He alone also can take it at will. Kudos to Russia and Ukraine for agreeing to save the African continent and the Middle East from dying from hunger and for giving peace a chance.
Samuel ‘Tunji Adeyanju
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