Ukraine war: Geopolitics get murky

The Russian military operation against Ukraine has metamorphosed into an atypical combination of native players, foreigners, mercenaries, Islamic forces, 'infidels' (as a section prefers to call Chechens) to such an extent that it could be difficult for Ukraine to extricate itself from the diabolical mess in a long time to come. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that a massive inflow of sophisticated arms and ammunition are finding their way into Ukraine from the NATO forces.

Russia began the operation – certainly not a war going by the deployment and utilization of limited forces – with a specific purpose of bulldozing all plans of the US and NATO and teaching a lesson to Ukraine for harbouring inimical plans on its soil against Russian interest.

One might always say that Russia is wrong in bringing the catastrophe on Ukraine. But, it goes without saying that the US and its NATO allies have an equal, if not a bigger, responsibility for the tragedy. A major casualty in the whole process is the truth as always. Thanks to the western blitzkrieg and Zelensky's theatrical scripts, people around the world are not aware of the ground realities and there is little chance of anyone understanding the same too as Russians prefer silence.

But, a careful perusal of the statements emanating from various corners of the world now tell us that this is no more a Russian vs the US-Nato-Ukraine conflict for settling old scores. Chechen Islamic scholar Salakh Mezhiev has pronounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine a 'jihad,' which should be fought "for the Koran, for God," in order to save Islam and Russia against the 'filth' of NATO forces. On the other hand, Syrian jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Idlib has reportedly declared that "The Chechens fighting with the Russian army are apostates. They have departed from the religion of Islam, even if they claim to be Muslims who fast and perform the five daily prayers."

Adding to this confusion is the bizarre statement of Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Dr Yasser Al-Naggar, who says that medieval Islamic jurist Ibn Hazem had allowed Muslims to join both sides of a war fought among infidels. Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has sent in units of his Muslim volunteer fighters into Ukraine "to become heroes and sacrifice their lives for the security of both countries." On the other hand, separatist Chechen groups have reportedly joined the war in order to defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Is it a jihad? or is it a crusade? As the conflict rages will these freelancers abide by any rules or oblige anyone's orders? Will they ever retreat? Ukraine is a rich soil and its resources are too tempting to cool the tempers of people. There is an influx of white supremacist groups who support Ukraine's own far right orgnisations too such as the Azov Battalion that has been banned by the US as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) because of its neo-Nazi connections.

Yet, the US is happy that they are now fighting the Russians. The US should take the blame for supporting Ukraine's call for an 'International Legion.' It wants a restive region on the borders of Russia and it has succeeded in creating it.