The US, West disillusioned over ‘absolute security’ in recent 6 months

Illustration:Liu Rui/GT

August 24 is Ukraine's 31st Independence Day, and it is also the day that marks exactly six months since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out. The sudden outbreak of this conflict, as well as its long duration and its far-reaching repercussion, has far exceeded anticipations. With six months passed, the conflict has spilled over from the military sector to multiple battlefields such as diplomacy, military, energy and finance. "When will it end?" has become the most talked about subject, which itself reveals a deep pessimism - the ongoing conflict still has no end in sight.

The US and Western media often use the word "unexpected" when reviewing the conflict: It is unexpected the conflict has lasted so long; it is unexpected that the price Europeans have paid is so high; it is unexpected there are so many "painful consequences," etc. This illustrates that once the flames of war begin to burn, there is little power to precisely control their rhythm or direction.

The conflict has turned into a total tragedy. The "brotherhood" between Russia and Ukraine has been completely dismantled, hatred and hostility have taken root in the societies of the two countries, and the factors of instability have been fully activated. Meanwhile, Russia's ties with Europe have been pushed toward hostility, with little of the cooperation and tacit understanding that existed in the past having almost nothing left. The "sanctions forces" formed by Washington have pushed the euro to a 20-year low, and inflation is also soaring in major European countries. The sides that have been dragged into this have changed from calculating how to "win a little more" to calculating how to "lose a little less."

It is obviously a game that most sides will lose, and the longer it drags on, the deeper the scars will be. This cannot be clearer. But at this point, some people are afraid that it will stop suddenly, and they are eager to push the conflict to continue. In the large amount of so-called reflections of the US and Western media over the past few days, people rarely see the call for peace. On the contrary, many US media outlets said "worriedly" that the "support for Ukraine has been decreasing," and CNN even claimed that "A grim winter will test Europe's support for Ukraine like never before." They have turned a blind eye to Europe's pain, but they seemed to be vaguely blaming Europe: Can't they bear even such a small price?

What is even more absurd is that the initiator of this bloody conflict has transformed into a so-called exemplification of justice and a guardian of peace. Over the past six months, Kiev has received rocket launchers, helicopters, tactical vehicles and missiles from the US and the West, over $10 billion in US military aid and all kinds of cheap praise and encouragement from Western politicians and media, except that it has not received the security commitments from the US and the West. The US and the West have put a price tag on every aid to Ukraine, at the cost of continuously making Ukraine's vast black soil a testing ground for US and Western weapons and a meat grinder to weaken Russia. What's more, they also want to replicate such an act in other parts of the world, creating regional crises in the name of "peace."

Washington has long been keen on creating stories of "the weak defeats the strong," fabricating a narrative of "justice vs evil," instigating and utilizing some neighboring countries to confront big powers, so as to achieve a well-leveraged effect. But the tragedy of Russia-Ukraine conflict has more clearly shown that major powers, when dealing with international relations, have to consider the context of interdependence. Overly emphasizing the winning or losing of major power competition, artificially creating "threats," coaxing neighboring countries to upgrade military equipment will only worsen the regional security environment, and the spillover effect of a local conflict will be far beyond people's imagination.

In the era of globalization, the world shares security and danger together. It's unwise to expand one's security range to other's doorstep and it's impossible to build one's security on the insecurity of others.

We also advise those hegemonic countries and exclusive alliances that are obsessed with "absolute security" not to let the crisis spiral up, otherwise, it will only lead to even worse global security crisis and security dilemma.