First of all, this war concerns the fate of 44 million Ukrainians.. But among the ruins of Mariupol and Kharkiv, what the whole world will look like is also at stake.. Vladimir Putin staged an invasion of Ukraine to force it to abandon rapprochement with the West and submit to the will of the Kremlin.

He is convinced that big countries have the right to dominate smaller ones.. Ukraine insists that it will choose its own allies. With Western support, she defends the universal principle that all countries are sovereign.. Whoever wins on the battlefield will determine how the whole world functions from now on, writes The Economist.

It is also important that outside the battlefield, the West is losing in this fight.. Most developing countries either support the Russian invasion or remain neutral. Some countries depend on Russian weapons, others feel unjustified nostalgia for Soviet greatness. But many of them also believe that the West is self-serving, hypocritical and declining.. And another part of the countries of the world, although they do not support the invasion, believe that this is not their problem.. This means that the world is moving in a very dangerous direction.. On March 2, 141 countries at the UN voted for a resolution condemning the Russian invasion.. But the real picture is much more complicated..

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The Economist Intelligence Unit found that only a third of the world's population lives in countries that not only condemn Russia's behavior, but also imposed sanctions against it.. Most of these countries in the West. Another third of the world is neutral. India is in this category, as well as dubious US allies - Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.. The third and final category are countries that repeat Russian propaganda to justify an invasion.. China, for example, constantly repeats after Moscow that American “biological laboratories” supposedly exist on the territory of Ukraine..

In Putin's world, in which the strong are always right, the lack of broad support proves the decline of the West. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, when the United States became the only superpower, countries were favorable to it not at all on ideological grounds.. They wanted American support. Now U.S. influence over smaller countries has dwindled amid the rise of China. Talk of " However, they have some truth.

The West has made efforts to lose influence. Before Putin's invasion of Ukraine, it seemed that the West had lost faith in the general principles it had formulated. After the Russian attack against Georgia in 2008, President Barack Obama rushed to " When Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons in Syria in 2013, Obama did nothing either.. A year later, Russia annexed Crimea and received only a slight slap in the face for it..

China and Russia are convinced that the lack of self-confidence is a manifestation of the decline of the West. The presidency of Donald Trump has only reinforced these beliefs by undermining American alliances.. Democracy in the US is mired in scandals and conspiracy theories. The EU often seemed completely self-centered. Brexit was a fiasco for both those who supported it and those who were against it.. Poorer countries also see America and its allies as selfish. Because they only ask for solidarity when it suits them.. While China and Russia were distributing COVID-19 vaccines, the West stocked up on doses. Countries that got rich burning oil and coal began to call on the world to step up efforts to fight climate change. However, they themselves did not fulfill their promise to financially help poor countries so that they can abandon fossil fuels and adapt to a warmer world..

Also, poor countries consider the West hypocritical. Europe talks about universal rights. But while gladly accepting millions of refugees from Ukraine, she turned away those who fled the war in Syria.. The US and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003 without UN support.. In the eyes of the West, Saddam Hussein was a bloodthirsty dictator who poisoned his own people with chemical weapons and also attacked neighboring countries.. Of course, Vladimir Zelensky cannot be compared with him. But the rulers of other countries are afraid that if the West is allowed to assume the role of judge, jury and executioner, they cannot count on justice..

This poisonous cocktail of justified grievances and exaggerations is backed up by the general dissatisfaction with the old colonial policy.. The trouble is that developing countries are making a terrible mistake.. After all, for them, the war in Ukraine also has its own stakes.. All the mistakes of the West do not prevail over the fact that in the system that Putin proposes, the people of these countries will suffer even more.

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The world Putin seeks to build will be even more fallen, selfish and immoral than the one already in existence.. Ukraine can prove it. Putin's extravagant lies about " His brash claims that NATO " Because no one dragged all the countries in the region into an alliance by force. They chose NATO for their own security after decades of Soviet tyranny.. And in Ukraine, you can see the moral decline of Russia, whose soldiers torture, rape and massively kill civilians.

Worse, Putin's belief in the legitimate dominance of the big powers is not limited to the battlefield.. He is right about one thing: the successful use of force is at the heart of geopolitics.. If Russia is allowed to win in Ukraine, intimidation, lies and manipulation will permeate the world of international agreements and laws even more.. They will destroy all international agreements that they take for granted. However, it is on them that the modern world rests..

This Putin vision might appeal to China, which is looking forward to building its own sphere of influence.. Beijing feels confident enough to dominate others. This vision will suit tyrants who want to exploit their countries with impunity and terrorize their neighbors.. But such views do not suit leaders who truly want the best for their peoples..

Now try to compare Putin's violent views with those of Ukraine.. Fighting Russian aggression, she actually became a beacon of democracy. Like the West, she's not perfect. But she fights for freedom and hope. Developing countries should not abandon their imperfect systems today. However, we must protect Ukraine from Putin and use our growing influence to help it thrive..

Earlier, CNN wrote that the next key battle of the Russian-Ukrainian war will be the battle for Sloviansk.. Since the city is of key strategic importance. If the enemy can take control of him, he will have the opportunity to cordon off the Ukrainian army in the Donbass.

In turn, the New York Times wrote that the battle for Donbass would be extremely fierce.. It will be very different from the fighting in the vicinity of Kyiv, Kharkov and Sumy. Because here the enemy knows the area better. And its supply chains are shorter.