FOR THE SAKE OF WORLD PEACE: F R Chowdhury(1N)

The students of history know it very well as to how the kings and monarchs used to conquer territories to glorify their regimes. Those days are gone. People have been educated, civilized and cultured to live side by side in peace and harmony. It is still not even hundred years that the world witnessed the last Great War, commonly known as World War II. It was again started by a dictator behaving like the old days’ total monarch. It had to be brought to an end by the use of atomic bombs. Now that we know about destructive powers of nuclear weapons, we do not want to use them anymore. Since then we created the United Nations and got involved in so many other forums and developed the process of negotiations for resolving disputes. It enabled us to have perhaps the longest period since 1945 without a major war.
Evolution of democratic systems helps reduce tensions. Democracy recognizes human rights, freedom of expression and tolerance to others’ views and beliefs. The government of the state is elected by the people and for the people. That is why so many European countries have changed from absolute kingdoms to constitutional monarchs. There are still elements who are not happy enough being in powers for just a few years. They get addicted to powers. They engage in ways and means, certainly not ethical, to prolong their rule. We have seen Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe, Saddam Hussein and Muamar Gaddafi. They all were total dictators in the veil of democracy. We still have a few of them around. Adolf Hitler remains in history as a hated dictator. Vladimir Putin of Russia is not far different. It is he who became a prime minister for one term so that he can again become president for two more terms. Now that his second term is coming to an end, he has gone mad. He does not know what to do. I just want to remind him the fate of Adolf Hitler.

The freedom loving people of the world condemn the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. However, we do not want this to be resolved through military force simply because we will not have any control over it and we are not sure where it would lead us to. We have to defeat Putin in a civilized and cultured way. Through a range of sanctions let us isolate Russia and let Russians take the final action of removing him. The measures I will suggest for the free world to take are:
a) Condemn the invasion officially and stop high level contact with Russia; Where possible call your ambassador back home for consultation;
b) Seize all Russian assets in your country;
c) Do not allow commercial ships and aircraft registered in Russia to call at your ports; Similarly do not allow your ships and aircraft to trade with Russia;
d) Suspend operation of Russian banks, insurance and other financial institutes in your country;
e) Conduct vigorous campaign through radio-television and newspapers to boycott Russian products;
f) Do not allow any transfer of fund and opening any L/C for Russia;
g) Suspend contractual employment of any Russian; Do not grant any Visa to Russians except on humanitarian ground; Also discourage own nationals to visit Russia;
h) Suspend operation of Russian part of any joint venture in your country and appoint your own administrator to look after for the time being;
i) Suspend any exchange program and transfer of technology with Russia.
The above measures must continue until Russia withdraws from Ukraine including Crimea. The action is bound to bring results. Let the Russians rise up against their own dictator and let this be a lesson for all other like-minded dictators.

Let democracy prevail and world peace and prosperity continue.

London, 25-February-2022 fazlu.chowdhury@btinternet.com