The Russia-Ukraine War is arguably the most pressing issue in the world today, having redefined contemporary reality. It is therefore mandatory, for us to lift the veil on the half-truths and a-historical narratives so that we will be able to properly contextualize this reality without being circumscribed by it; otherwise, we stand the risk of being consumed by it, which will call our faith into question.
For it is written: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. (Hebrews 11: 1-2) ……. “And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to the armies of the aliens” (Hebrews 11:32-34)
By which we know that our attitude to this reality must be anchored on the substance of those things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen; for this substance fuels our hopes, much in the same way it fueled the hopes of others, who by faith, understood that the Word of God framed the world.
To pursue which we must be able to understand the times, as “the sons of Issachar who had the understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do”
What then is this understanding? And what is it that we need to do?
A brief historical excursion will provide an answer.
The second inter-European war, also known as the Second World War, which pitted Germany against the rest of Europe, was the fall-out of the outcome of their first war, which ended up imposing a series of punitive obligations on Germany, being the loser in the war. These measures eventually led to the rise of German Nationalism, anchored by the National Socialist Party from where Adolph Hitler became the German Chancellor and proceeded to reverse much of the penalties imposed on Germany, leading to the entrenchment of German Nationalism, with the Second World War to show for it.
Again, Germany was defeated, and all her colonial possessions were redistributed among the victorious Allies, accompanied by what became known as the Marshall Plan, devised by the United States to address the devastation of the European economy during the war. Concurrently, Europe became divided into two, to wit: the West, led by the United States and through which the Marshal Plan was implemented, and the East, led by the Soviet Union, which had liberated much of eastern Europe from Germany.
The Marshal Plan was accompanied by a military pact, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (NATO) established in 1949 and which had the dual aim of preventing the rise of German-type Nationalism within Western Europe as well as containing Eastern Europe. This was countered by the Eastern European Warsaw Pact; both situations ended up in a “Cold War” between Eastern and Western Europe, redrawing the world’s geopolitical map anchored on being associated with one side or the other.
It is within this context that many of the then newly independent countries, led by the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Pandit Nehru, Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Sukarno of Indonesia resolved to create the Non-Aligned Movement which was able to generate some sort of balance between the two blocs.
Yet, the reality of global power politics, which had been the foundation of European politics since the emergence of the modern Nation-State, ensured that the Non-Aligned movement was truncated largely through a series of Western-inspired or actively promoted military coups in those leading countries, apart from India and Yugoslavia, thereby reinstating global political reality into the dichotomy between the West and the East.
The Nationalism which the West sought to prevent became the lightning rod for the internal opposition in the East, and which led to various movements for Self-Determination in many of the countries, largely based on their resistance to forcible integration into the Soviet orbit, especially when the Soviet Union itself was established by force, corralling many of the Nationalities within the feudal Russian Empire into the new Soviet Union.
The failed attempt at Restructuring the Soviet Union (Perestroika) into a real Multi-National Federal state outside the command structure of the Communist Party, led to the break-up of the Soviet Union into the different Republics, including Ukraine, as well as the collapse of the Warsaw Pact.
Nevertheless, this break-up, rather than engendering a similar move with NATO, that is, the collapse of one must logically lead to the collapse or folding up of the other since they were created in opposition to one another; but on the contrary, it simply fueled its expansion, where some members of the Warsaw Pact, as well as some former members of the Soviet Union, became members of NATO, further strengthening the NATO military advantage towards the East.
This was the immediate background to the Russian issue with Ukraine, hence Russia’s insistence that it will not allow itself to be surrounded by a military alliance created to subdue it in the first instance.
This short historical excursion shows that the quest for Self-Determination, by itself, does not necessarily translate into freedom from foreign domination; the truncated response of the Non-Aligned Movement to the Cold War and its impact on the Nations and Peoples of the world, combined with the realignment of some of the former members of the Soviet Union/Warsaw pact countries with NATO, provide the context, not only for our understanding but also our possible responses to the reality of the moment.
Daniel 12:8-13 is a pointer as to that which we need to do.
“Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”
Daniel’s substance was in serving God and the People of God, his Nation, his People, to the chagrin of, and ultimate respect from Nebuchadnezzar.
Yet God told him not to worry himself about the end, but to go his way, for, by his obedience, he will rise to his inheritance at the end of the days.
For us today, our substance is in addressing the most volatile issue on the African continent, continuing from where previous efforts stalled, to wit: the Non-Aligned Movement providing a window of opportunity to address the balance of forces in favor of the oppressed Nations and Peoples to resolve the National Question, deliberate creation of Western political and economic adventures on the Continent, famously described as the 3Cs (Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization).
Therefore, we must not be swayed by the frenzy on the cause of freedom for Ukraine, as promoted by the current narrative, while remaining unresponsive to the suppression of freedom for the Nationalities and Peoples of Africa by our adherence to the finality of the Nation-State as God-given thereby sustaining and reinforcing a paradigm established purposely to enhance our oppression.
The failed attempt at Restructuring the Soviet Union into a Multi-National Federal State must inform what we are to do in our climes, ensuring that the Peoples of Africa do not become cloned Ukrainians, who now appear to be the proverbial grass suffering when two elephants fight.
By Wale Odeku
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