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It is their shared colonial past that brings together the three major South Asian countries — India, Pakistan and Bangladesh — into adopting a neutral, hands-off approach on the current war raging in Ukraine. Ignoring bitter local disputes and a notoriously conflicted relationship affecting all three countries at times, three disparate ruling entities in the most populous region of the world have effectively questioned the Western anti-Russian narrative on the Ukraine situation.

The Ukraine crisis may constitute a more impactful, historic watershed than the 1989 fall of the Berlin wall in the mind of Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “perhaps even a bigger moment than the fall of the Berlin Wall,” Balakrishnan said.

And while we looked the other way…the coronavirus returned. But when did it ever go away? It didn’t go into hiding. It only changed faces. Now it’s the Omicron BA.2 variant. The original Omicron was BA.1. China and Hong Kong have a case of the worst kind of BA.1, laying to waste Hong Kong’s ‘zero covid’ policy and China’s state-control that, if it wasn’t for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, would have given authoritarianism a bad name.

Almost 3 weeks into the war, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has numbed all of us. The recurring images of lofty neighbourhoods bustling with life and laughter turning into lifeless concrete with no signs of humans have left most of us unsettled. The idea of protection of the Russian people and Russian interest that President Vladimir Putin has put forth to justify his war looks completely out of sync with the idea of the modern world.

Bangladesh will not halt the construction of the Russia-aided $12 billion Ruppur nuclear power plant regardless of recent anti-Moscow Western sanctions announced in the wake of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The long awaited unit, considered an absolutely essential project in Bangladesh’s plans to address its chronic power shortage, has been under construction for some time.

There is a new joke going round Russia: “What’s the easiest way to clear the snow from your street? Write No To War in the snow — and the police will clear it for you.” Footage on social media shows police obliterating anti-war messages written in the snow. But the Russian peace movement will not be so easily stamped out. The size of anti-war protests in Russia has taken everyone by surprise. Russian police have carried out over 13,000 arrests of peace protesters since the invasion of Ukraine began. Over a million people in Russia have signed petitions against the war.

BOSTON: The Ukraine war started on February 24, when Russia invaded on the plea that Ukraine intends to join NATO and thereby threatens Russia’s security. The attack was not sudden, Russia has mobilized troops on Ukraine's border for sometimes before, diplomatic efforts from USA and EU countries failed. There are some truth In Putin's assertions but his true intention lies elsewhere. He wants to restore the Tsarist Russia landmap, at least those area in the Baltic which were inside Russia during USSR period. He thought many Ukrainians, specially Russ speaking people, about 29 % of the population will give him support which happened during his Crimea invasion. But he went wrong. The invasion has united all the Ukrainians against him and pushed them towards west. Ukraine didn't fall within a short time as predicted. They are giving a very hard fight, with limited military and financial aid from US and the West.

Struggling to remain on the sidelines of the 21st century’s watershed war in Ukraine, Middle Eastern nations are discovering that they may be fighting their battles with an outdated toolkit.

In South Asia, size continues to matter, even for countries- never mind diplomacy. Bangladesh has been impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, along with India, but the Western response could not have been more contrasting. The US/EU-led bloc of countries have hit out at Bangladesh viciously, while they still assess their options vis-à-vis its bigger neighbour, India.

Russian civilisationalism is proving handy as President Vladimir Putin seeks to expand the imaginary boundaries of his Russian World, whose frontiers are defined by Russian speakers and adherents to Russian culture rather than international law and/or ethnicity.