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Event Report

This panel discussion is organised by the Department of Political Science, Atmaram Sanatan Dharma College in collaboration with NIICE. This panel discussion is chaired by Ambassador Vishnu Prakash, who retired in 2016 as India’s High Commissioner in Canada, former ambassador to South Korea, and was also the official spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs. The panel includes Professor Jeffrey  S Payne from Near East South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies, Dr. Victoria V. Panova from Far Eastern Federal University Russia, Dr. Deepa M. Ollapally from Elliott School of International Affairs George Washington University, Cleo Paskal from Foundation for Defence of Democracies, Roger Kangas from Near South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies.

The Discussion started with Ambassador Prakash sir with his viewpoint on the current situation of the Ukraine Russia Conflict; in his view, this conflict is a completely unnecessary manmade disaster which should never have happened. The fault of Ukraine is just that it is stated on a geopolitical fault line, and facing the consequences of the same. He also mentioned that India’s stance in this situation is Neutral, and wishes to pull back this conflict to the negotiation table. Following brief remarks, he invited every panellist to put up his/her views on this conflict.

The first panellist is Dr Panova, which put up her view as, this conflict is not just a simple conflict, but a civilisation conflict, where Russia overwhelmingly invite other nation and work for the prosperity of the world together beyond the political boundaries. But at the same time where a particular country has a military group which is expanding plus this group doesn’t like you very much, is coming near to your boundaries. At this point, bilateral meetings do not stand with any sense.

The next panellist is Dr. Cleo Paskal. She had spoken about the global order; in this, she started with the point by explaining how everyone is being a part of information warfare. The majority of us have shifted to the online source of information and news, just because we are not able to understand which source is reliable and which is not. She about the economical sanctions that Russia is facing right now due to this conflict will not work, because, before the cold war, Russia have good relations with various non-allied nations also. Now, everyone has an option for trading, and these sanctions might not work. Also, these steps are fracturing the current world order and disrupting the older relations of nations.

Dr. Deepa M Ollapally, have a very distinct view of this conflict as a Failure of Great Diplomacy. From both sides, the situation is over-estimated. She beautifully explained the interests of every major player in this conflict that is, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, and the USA. If this conflict grows and stretched to a longer period, this might be a threat that calls for the whole of Europe. This will affect Russia, but China as a growing nation could become powerful support for Russia, and the world order will look as the Chinese want it to look.

Roger Kangas, view over this is based on humanitarian grounds. He believes that Russia might conquer Ukraine, but they will not be able to conquer the Ukrainian people. In moving global order for Securitising Europe, this conflict might take discussions toward the negotiation table along with various nations other than European Union. This will also increase the arms race because of this conflict many nations could not come over the Security dilemma.

Professor Jeffrey S Payne, his view on this changing global order is, that the world is already facing an economical dropdown because of COVID, and now it’s the Russia-Ukraine conflict challenging the world order to suffer another economic crisis. The USA with other allied nations will look more after the securitising borders, and also maintain the existing world order.

Prepared by Rohan Kumar Gawale, Intern at NIICE, Nepal