If you live in almost any Western country, government support for Ukraine, including sending weapons and imposing sanctions on Russia, can give the impression of a globally unified response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
But that’s not the case. Most of the 195 countries in the world have not delivered aid to Ukraine or joined the sanctions. A few have actively supported Russia. Carisa Nietsche of the Center for a New American Security calls it more of a “messy middle ground,” not siding with Ukraine and Russia.
“We are living in a bubble, in the US and Europe, where we think the moral and geopolitical stakes are very clear, and the framework of what we are seeing playing out, is a common cause,” Barry Pavel, senior vice president of the Atlantic Council, told me. “In fact, most of the world’s governments are not with us.”
Today’s newsletter provides guidance on some of those countries and why they are committed to their positions.
National interest
India and Israel are prominent democracies allied with the US on many issues, especially security. But it also relies on Russia for security and has avoided arming Ukraine or imposing sanctions on Moscow. “In both cases, the important factor is not ideology but national interest,” says my colleague Max Fisher, who has written about the Russian invasion.
India, the world’s biggest buyer of Russian weapons, is looking to defend itself against Pakistan and China. India joined 34 other countries in abstaining in a United Nations vote condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as you can see on the map below. And India seems to be rejecting the pleas of the West to have a harder line.
Israel coordinates with Russia on Iran, its main rival, and in neighboring Syria (with which Russia has strong ties). Russian speakers from the former Soviet Union also make up a large portion of the Israeli electorate. Prime Minister of Israel has avoid directly criticizing Putinand although their government has acted as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia, the effort has had little effect.
Several countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa also offer similar options. Bolivia, Vietnam and nearly half of Africa’s 54 countries refuse to support a UN resolution condemning Russia. Bruce Jones, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said some rely on Russian military support. Others do not want to risk jeopardizing trade relationships with China, which has scorned Russian propaganda about the war.
Those countries “could be more accurately described as uninterested,” said Max, not wanting to risk their security or economies “for the sake of a struggle they perceive as virtually impossible.” irrelevant.”
Western skeptics
Several countries, citing the West’s imperial history and past failures to respect human rights, have justified opposing their response to Ukraine. The South African president blamed NATO for the Russian invasion, and the United Nations ambassador criticized the US invasion of Iraq during last month’s debate over the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
Other countries, including some that voted to condemn Russia’s invasion, accused the West of acting counterproductive. Brazil’s UN ambassador has suggested that arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia risks escalating the war.
There is nothing intellectually inconsistent between considering Russia’s actions outrageous and not necessarily siding with the West’s response to it, Jones told me.
Autocratic leaders – including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Nicaragua – may also feel threatened by Ukraine’s resistance and the West’s view of the invasion as a the struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, experts say. “They were concerned that this might inspire opposition movements in their country,” says Nietsche.
Friends of Russia
China, with all its economic and military might, saw war as an opportunity to enhance its own geopolitical position as a counterweight to the US while maintaining relations with Russia. The countries recently issued a joint statement declaring a friendship “without limits”. But China has struggled with its delicate balancing act honor that commitment without outright endorsing the Russian invasion: Beijing denounced Western sanctions but did not appear to be providing Russia with weapons or economic aid.
“China’s support for Russia is important, but also carefully guarded and measured,” Max said.
Four countries – North Korea, Eritrea, Syria and Belarus – voted squarely with Russia against a UN resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine. Belarus is a former Soviet state whose autocratic leader has asked Putin to help suppress protests by 2020 and allow Russia to launch a partial invasion from within Belarus.
Russia is intervening in the Syrian civil war on behalf of the Moscow-aligned government there, and Syria is sending warplanes that could support Russian forces in Ukraine.
What’s next?
It is not uncommon for countries to avoid choosing inside major global issues. Some remained neutral during the Second World War; dozens of people sought to stay free from both the US and the Soviet Union’s influence during the Cold War.
But if the war in Ukraine drags on, Jones said, neutral countries could come under stronger international pressure to condemn Moscow. And for countries with close ties to Russia, even neutrality can be an act of courage.
More about Ukraine
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The fate of Mariupol, in the southeast, hinges in battle at the steel millwhere Ukrainian forces are holding out.
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Capture Mariupol will create a bridge over the land between the Russian stronghold in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
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Russian forces fired rockets into Lviv, western Ukraine, killing at least six people. It was part of the pattern of attacking cities even as they prepared for an attack in the east.
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In Russia, atrocities committed by soldiers are rarely investigated or acknowledged – let alone be punished.
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A village in Ukraine is haunted by the disappearance of five men herding cows.
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Once upon a time, Barnes & Noble was the arch-enemy of independent booksellers across the United States. Now, it’s important to their survivalElizabeth Harris of The Times reports.
Elizabeth writes: Many book enthusiasts and writers once referred to the chain of stores as “strong-weapon publishers and petty thieves.” But in today’s book landscape, not driven by online sales, Barnes & Noble helps readers discover new titles and publishers continue to invest in distribution in physical stores, a benefits for booksellers of all sizes.
“It would be a disaster if they went out of business,” said one literary agent. “There is a real fear that without this series, the printing business would not be possible.”
Barnes & Noble’s success stems from massive discounts on bestsellers and a wide variety of books. Amazon has replaced that formula: Its discounts are more, it has a seemingly endless selection of books, and it now sells more than half of all printed books in the US.
What’s lost in the process are accidental finds – books that readers pick up in a store. Exploring such chains of independent bookstores and bookstores is important for unknown writers. “As Amazon’s market share grows, there are fewer discoveries and fewer new voices to be heard,” said the founder of an independent publisher.
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