By Dr. Sawraj Singh

          Ukraine has become the hot spot of the world. According to western media, Russia can invade Ukraine any time. Talks between Russia and America and the NATO have not led to any agreement. The main obstacle is the west’s refusal to address Russia’s concern that any further expansion of the NATO in Eastern Europe poses a serious threat to Russia’s security. Russia has drawn red lines which it does not want the West to cross. However, the west is insisting that it will not let Russia dictate to it that who should be included in NATO. Russia has made it clear that if the west crosses the red lines, then Russia can respond militarily.                                                                                                             

                The west still feels that it can fight Russia and it can win a war like it won the two World Wars. This is the biggest blunder the west is making. The bitter truth is that the west has lost the ability to fight a major war with a country like Russia or China. The west has lost the spirit and the will to fight. In the final analysis, wars are fought with the human spirit and the will to fight. Without these, the weapons and the technology will not win the war.                                                                                                                                          

                 I lived in America for forty years and have travelled to all the major western countries. I feel that America and the western countries cannot fight a war with Russia or China. Consumerism of capitalism has killed the human spirit and the will to fight. There is a mistaken belief that they can win the war with their technology. There are two big faults in this concept. The first, technology is created by man and the creator is always superior to its creation. The capitalist countries have reduced men to just consumers. Therefore, they cannot maintain their technological superiority. China is beating them in the field of new technology. Russia is maintaining its edge in the military technology. When the west has lost the technological advantage, then outcome of the war will be mostly decided by the human factors.                                                                                                                                                                                               

                In this field, the west is going to take a terrible beating. The western capitalist countries have almost completely dehumanized their population. They have reduced human beings to mere consumers. Human beings have three dimensions: Physical, Mental and Spiritual. However, western capitalists have completely abandoned the spiritual aspect. Therefore, human beings have become incomplete. Incomplete human beings will not be able to fight wars, let alone win the wars.          

                Capitalism has made people extremely individualistic, self-centered and selfish. These people have completely lost a collective perspective. How can such people fight and win a war?               

                 Another problem is radical egalitarianism. This means that you do not have any regard for age, experience, educational level, academic achievement or socio-economic status and you consider everybody equal. On superficial examination, this looks like a promotion of fairness and equality. However, on a deeper exploration it becomes clear that it is another example of anarchy promoted by the capitalists. To fight and win a war, you need discipline and not anarchy.                                                                

                 Besides these ideological concepts there are some practical considerations also. Wars are fought mostly by young men. Western capitalist countries are facing a problem of aging of the population. To make up for this situation, they are bringing young people from the other countries. However, there are problems associated with immigration. It takes a long time for these people to get assimilated in the mainstream. Moreover, for most of these people the top priority is to make the most money in the shortest time. Because of these peculiarities, they will not be able to fight with the same intensity like the Russians and the Chinese. I can give you the example of the Vietnam war. During the war, the immigration offices in America looked deserted because very few people wanted to become permanent residents. The reason for this was that the permanent residents were drafted and sent to Vietnam to fight.                                                                                                                                                                

                Another problem is radical feminism in the western capitalist countries. Radical feminists deny the natural differences between the males and the females. Males are physically stronger and have to do most of the fighting in the wars. However, if the society does not let them grow up with these feelings, then these young men will not be able to fight those young men who have been raised with those feelings.                                                                                                                                                                                

                Some people are saying that Ukraine can become another Afghanistan for Russia. Obviously, these people do not know the difference between the two countries. People in Afghanistan are not influenced by consumerism of the western capitalist countries, whereas people in Ukraine who want to join the west are thoroughly influenced by western consumerism. To expect these people to fight like the Afghans is a complete denial of reality and is an unrealistic expectation.                                                                                         The best thing the west can do for itself and for rest of the world is to accept the realities. One big reality is that the west cannot fight and win a war against Russia or China. The only thing it can do is to risk destruction of itself and rest of the world. The best thing the West can do is to accept the reasonable demands of Russia.                                                                                                                                                                

Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at sawrajsingh@hotmail.com.