PM MODI FACES A WORLD ON THE EDGE OF WWIII

Giving long-range missiles to Ukraine, and permitting their use inside Russia, is akin to lighting a fuse that, were it to sputter on, could lead to a wider conflagration

- MADHAV NALAPAT

The provision of long range missiles by the US to the Kiev regime is akin to giving petrol to a proven arsonist. The Biden administration has been staffed since 2017 by regime change aficionados, whose record of disaster is visible in what has happened in countries such as Libya and Syria, not to mention Iraq, the war by President George W. Bush on Saddam after the dictator had rendered himself defenceless by giving up his WMD stockpile following his defeat in Kuwait. Clearly, Saddam was a threat to the region and needed to be removed, but not in the manner he was, which was by replacing his regime with a clutch of US citizens, that too in conjunction with the former colonial power, Britain. Rather than show the magnanimity extended by the Allies to all but a few members of the Nazi Party in Germany after World War II, members of the Baath Party (many of whom had joined the party in order to protect their careers and families) were removed from their posts, including the entire Iraqi army after Desert Storm. The result was an administrative meltdown in Iraq.