Deepak Dwivedi
As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its second week, Blitz India offers an exhaustive and well-rounded coverage to this global development. While collating various aspects of the situation on the ground, our Cover Story mainly focuses on India’s perspective and the country’s increased importance on the world stage. It explains how Prime Minister Narendra Modi displayed immense courage and maturity by adopting neutrality in the entire conflict while reiterating India’s commitment to the UN Charter and international law. Though India abstained from voting on UN resolutions, PM Modi was able to convey the country’s stand to Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Bidden with firmness and conviction. A supporting story deals with the geopolitical angle and says if no course correction is undertaken, the Russia-Ukraine conflict might radically change the global balance of power in unexpected ways.
The Centerspread this week is on the humanitarian crisis arising out of the ongoing conflict. Besides talking of the growing number of civilian casualties and damage to the critical civilian infrastructure in Ukrainian cities, the main story in this section focuses on the serious human displacement crisis that is knocking at Europe’s door. According to the figures quoted in this report, more than 160,000 people have been internally displaced while over 116,000 pushed to move across the borders of the war-ravaged country. We also carry a first-person account by a Ukrainian resident of six years who, along with his family, was lucky enough to move out of Kyiv in the last flight that left the capital city before it was attacked. There is another profound piece by a former Indian ambassador, which deals with the geopolitical, geo-economic, and superpower games that have come into play in the entire conflict.
Adding grist to our Ukraine package is an exclusive report by Team Blitz India on the weak and ineffective body, called the United Nations. The UN chief’s appeal to Putin a day before the attack on Ukraine is symptomatic of the failure of the world body which was born to prevent wars, says this well-researched report. It also rues the fact that India, the world’s largest democracy, is not even a permanent member of the UNSC and stresses the need for urgent reforms to the world body, a demand which PM Modi has been consistently voicing. An accompanying box traces the birth of the global body after the end of World War II. The Globetrotting destination this week is Taiwan which, like India under PM Modi, has strongly positioned itself against China. The story focuses on the desire shown by the two countries to move beyond the shadow of Beijing in expanding their bilateral cooperation.
Enjoy reading this week’s power-packed offering!
