Ukraine’s youth not willing to fight a war that’s not their own

WILL the ongoing land wars of Europe and West Asia end with the advent of US President-elect Donald Trump? The fiery and fatal events have already shaken all, connected or unconnected. It is an intra-ethnic and intra-race (civil) war between Europe Slavs; it is an intra-religious war between Russian Orthodox/Eastern Church with a Jew as the head of one state that now is the hallmark of implacable Moscow-Kyiv hate war.

The Israel-Hamas bloodshed, on other hand, is also inherently a religious war between Jews and Islam-following Hezbollah (Lebanon), Houthi (Yemen) and Iran. What makes things more ominous is that even after the regime change in the US, the crusade-jihad congenital revenge to “kill-to-finish-all” will intensify, as was felt in US pre-poll political campaign. Both wars brought profit and prosperity to the US arms industry, which the US President-designate can’t ignore.

Also, the situation is so charged that no warring leader has either the time or the intention to talk peace and stop caravans of dead or dying bodies and displaced persons in search of food, shelter and medication. No leader is bothered about rotten, melting corpses on streets. Everyone wants the war to continue and intensify. From state or government heads to gun makers, traders, diplomats, the war is lucrative for everyone, and an opportunity to hog limelight as nationalist, patriot and hero of his/her land.

Fortunately, however, in the midst of these lunatics who are ceaselessly giving the call for revenge-war, race-war, religious-war and endless war to all stakeholders (though for different reasons), there have suddenly developed two strong “anti-war” sentiments from most unexpected quarters. Despite Ukrainian President Zelenskyy determined to continue fighting the war, young Ukrainians are fiercely opposing conscription and refusing to go to the warfront to get killed.

Consequently, the Ukrainian army today faces a serious desertion crisis as 30,000-plus soldiers have already fled from their posts. Desertion reached such alarming proportion that on August 20, 2024, Ukrainian parliament was forced to “de-criminalise the first attempt to flee army as long as those caught agree to return to duty”. The initial euphoria of February 2022 of joining the forces to protect their motherland has evaporated, owing to astronomical number of body bags, which has created an incurable psychic disorder among large number of surviving combatants.

Evidently, Ukraine is in a spot. Denuded of 25 per cent of its population, which has migrated, or is maimed, slaughtered, and forcibly scattered, conscription has not gone down well with eligible army recruits. Youngsters are protesting hard to avoid joining the armed forces, which has become a sure-death prospect. Times have changed. The 21st-century Crimea’s war has no resemblance to the 19th-century Crimean War that inspired Lord Tennyson’s, The Charge of the Light Brigade’s iconic lines, “Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die....” Today’s globalised youth wants materialistic pleasures of life and not die facing bullets. Kyiv’s pining for peace, not war.

Jewish Israel, too, is a revelation. Despite being a country in constant state-of-war since 1948, the staunch refusal to join Israel Defence Forces (IDF) by ultra orthodox Jews created unprecedented divisions in society. Although the ultra orthodox Jews have historically been exempted since Israel’s birth in 1948 from military service if they dedicate themselves to study of sacred Jewish texts, the June 2024 Supreme Court verdict ended the exemption enjoyed by seminary students from military duty. Understandably, the July 2024 conscription notices to 1,000 ultra orthodox Jews ignited the age-old debate of choosing between authority of church or the state.

Thus, whereas the state says “fall in line to fight for state against foe in front”, “believers” will have none of it because they are subjects of church first, state later. Being in service of church does not allow them to follow the state’s diktat to fight in the battleground. Let state make its own arrangements to get men on ground to deal with its foes.

Though considered unpatriotic by any standard of modern definition of a ‘citizen’s duty’, yet these are signs of modern world’s anti-war sentiments. Any nation, especially in the west, has to take into account that memories of mass destruction and brutal mayhem of 65 million people in World War-II are still too fresh to be forgotten. The leaders may become or remain warmongers for their own power games and corporations may be influenced by astronomical profits earned by their weapons of mass destruction, but the thought of dying for “wars without cause” cannot be ignored any more. Gone are days of demagogues and ramblers of Armageddon in the name of nationalism, patriotism and martyrdom for dealing with enemy.

Israel is on a multi-front war; Russia-Ukraine conflict has already imperilled the EU’s economy which is based on technology, industry and agro-industrial export. The youth there is still well looked after by various state welfare measures.

Therefore, in the present era of globalisation, which prosperous youth of west would like to die as chained animals? History shows that usually the ‘medically unfit’ rich are invariably incapable of any physical fight. Rich love to take up lucrative contracts to produce combat weapons to make profit, but are never known to have joined forces to fight and die for their nations. The wealthy west and belligerents today face such a defining moment in the two ongoing wars. However, there are indications of winds of change. Wars are started by both, agent provocateurs and lunatics. Only people with mass action can put brakes on fanatics making dollars over dead bodies as was done by Americans themselves to stop the Vietnam War. It is time to end war and restore normal lives in the much-touted globalised world.