At a time when governments around the world are still grappling with an ongoing pandemic, a war in Ukraine was least expected. Absolutely unthinkable, and yet it happened! Subsequently, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted against the Russian intervention. In spite of the resolution, the raging war doesn’t seem to stop anytime soon. 

Perhaps, it is important to note that Ukraine has been a sovereign nation since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Putin’s critics are calling him a war criminal in the manner he ordered his troupes to attack innocent civilians with tanks, missiles, cluster bombs, etc. It is believed that thousands of Ukrainians have already lost their lives and over 1.5 millions, so far, have fled to neighbouring friendly countries. 

Indeed, it is to be wondered why Putin decided to wage such a devastating war at this point in time, when the world is facing so many challenges. Was it really so urgent and necessary? Is that ugly game worth the candle? Why people should identify themselves so intensely with their countries and systems of governments in the third millennium, to the point of waging wars? What drives political leaders so stubbornly callous to attain their objectives? 

Admittedly, it is an undeniable fact that the western countries have instigated Ukraine to join NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and the comediancum- president Volodymir Zelensky also got infatuated and carried away with that excitingly luring idea. Obviously, that must have displeased and provoked Putin beyond belief. But, however unpalatable and sour to Putin, does it justify a Russian military brutal intervention? 

Be that as it may, the world seems to have wheeled back to a savagery and barbarity worse than that of pre-historic cave dwellers – this time not with swords, daggers, bows and arrows but with sophisticated technologies. We seem to have forgotten the miseries of the various wars and the concomitant sufferings. We haven’t learned any lesson from the two World Wars. Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been obliterated from our memories; the massacre of millions in Cambodia and Vietnam also have been forgotten; the tribal massacre of Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and the untold sufferings in other parts of the world do not seem to be serious enough for us to wake up. Recently, we had war in Afghanistan and the population is on the verge of famine. And now, we have this senseless Russian invasion of Ukraine. Just see the miseries of the innocent people – women, children and the elderly who are forced to flee their country – leaving everything behind! 

Tragically, we are living in a world more unstable than ever before. It is being made even more dangerous and it is drifting towards chaos. In such a state of affairs, it is to be wondered why scientists are still obsessed with the development of more weapons of mass destruction. For instance, what is the raison d’être of creating germs as biological weapons? Don’t we have enough of harmful germs, bacteria, viruses, etc. in our planet? Why then a large amount of resources has to be squandered in the production of additional destructive agents? In what way it is of any use to the ascent of human species – in body, mind and spirit? Will the lives of humans be better off with that sort of perverted development? What is our final destination? Whither are we going? What are we trying to prove? Is that what to expect from human beings after several thousand years of evolution and civilisation? 

From the present conflict in the heart of Europe, it is becoming crystal clear that we are all sitting on a powder keg which is waiting for the final explosion. Unequivocally, we are heading towards self-destruction if politicians do not control their inordinate ego and thirst for power and domination. The techniques of slaughter these days can lead to the extermination of humans for good, just like the once-upon-atime Dodo of Mauritius. It seems that we have learned very little from history. Shame must be ashamed of falling on the shameless heads of all those who have directly or indirectly contributed to the creation of such an explosive situation!