#BTColumn – Is Ukraine the prelude to something bigger?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Lenrod Nzulu Baraka

Black Panther fans are in for a treat if the trailer for the sequel to the Blank Panther movie lives up to the hype surrounding the trailer. Sequels are a part of the entertainment landscape and we all look forward with eager anticipation to the next installment of our favorite Hollywood movie franchise.

Even casual students of history know that sequels are also a part of the geopolitical landscape. The two World Wars and the two invasions of Iraq are well known examples of sequels in geopolitics.

The current political climate in Europe suggests that we could be inching closer and closer to another sequel in the World War franchise.

World War I brought over 30 nations on to the assorted battlefields in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. World War I was billed as the war to end all wars but that is not the way sequels work.

The conflict acted as a catalyst for a number of positive trends including the emergence of independence movements in European colonies, the fall of the monarchy in Germany and Russia and the beginning of the ascendency of the US as a super power.

There were also quite a few negative repercussions of the war including famine, high unemployment and the Spanish Flu epidemic, Notwithstanding these negative repercussions, Europeans started planning a sequel almost immediately after the guns of World War I went silent.

The Europeans demanded reparations from Germany to the tune of 132 billion gold marks. By today’s standards this would be about $270 billion. And to think that Europeans are still trying to weasel their way out of paying reparations to descendants of enslaved Africans.

The punitive conditionalities imposed on Germany by the victors of World War I threw Germany into an economic upheaval that eventually led to the emergence of Adolph Hitler and the rise of the Nazi Party.

Fascism took strong root in Germany, Italy, and Portugal. Germany, Italy, and Japan combined into what was known as the Axis powers.

The silent guns of World War I were dusted off and it was back to the killing fields for the great sequel we call World War II.

Since 1945 the World War franchise has been dormant.The Bretton Woods world order created by the Americans did not make the same mistake made by Europeans at the Treaty of Versailles after they thrashed Germany in World War I.

The US introduced the Marshal Plan that provided the finance needed to help rebuild Europe inclusive of Germany and Italy. The US also deployed its navy fleets to police international waters to protect global shipping and trade.

The US therefore became the underwriter of European peace. The Bretton Woods world order had one fatal flaw built into it and that fatal flaw goes by the name of Russia.The collapse of the Soviet Union was a national security nightmare for Russia.

Russia does not have oceans, deserts, or mountain ranges to act as natural defences along most of its extensive borders in the event of an invasion.

As NATO expanded eastward, President Putin correctly interpreted the expansion of NATO as an existential threat to the security of Russia. Russia’s military operations into Ukraine are just stage one of a more complex strategy to fortify Russia’s borders against hostile enemy agents.

As Russia executes its strategic plans, the rest of Europe will be drawn into open conflict with Russian forces bent on expanding Russian dominance in countries essential to Russian security.

The conflict in Ukraine can therefore be likened to the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

The World War franchise seems to be rousing itself from a long slumber and already we are seeing signs that Europe is beating its plows into spears in preparation for the release of the dogs of war and the ensuing havoc that will follow.

The US is deploying troops to Eastern Europe and NATO forces are doing all in their power to become battle ready.

An Armageddon script could be the outcome of another all out war between the European powers. The Ukraine conflict may therefore mark the beginning of the sequel to the two World Wars. The conflict may also prove to be the catalyst and initiator of a deadly, global nuclear winter.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center.