World's Scourge: Fascism Then, Terrorism Now

As jihadi terrorism and fascism share some traits, it's helpful to see how the world allied to tackle that menace to examine how India can spearhead the battle at hand

- Commodore ChitrapU Uday Bhaskar (Retd)

Today, the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Allied forces will be celebrated in Russia as a major historical punctuation. This epochal event marked the end of the diabolical Hitler era and the ideology of fascism, which together threatened the normative principles of freedom and liberty.

In the eight decades since, the world has transformed with many ironic twists on the road. Today, some of the old allies are pitted against each other and the biggest concern for a number of nations isn't fascism, but jihadi terrorism. It's instructive to look at how world powers came together in different eras to mobilise against the biggest scourges of the times to examine how the new fight against terrorism can be spearheaded.

Today's military parade in Moscow offers a snapshot of the present. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the list of world leaders who will be present will signal an endorsement of his leadership—and by extension, the war that he has initiated against Ukraine, one that is still festering. Among the major powers, Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Lula da Silva of Brazil will be in Moscow along with leaders from 27 other nations. Predictably, the US and the EU will not be present.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is considered to have a special personal relationship with President Putin, will not be there, for he is leading his nation in the fight against terrorism under the banner of Operation Sindoor and the India-Pakistan military tension is simmering.