Winston Churchill once said that “History is written by the victors”. There could be contrary views to this assertion, but this testimony surely does not resonate with the case of Russia-Ukraine War. As we are advancing, the complete collapse of Ukrainian Territory at the hands Russian Federation seems inevitable. But I suspect that this will ever go down in History the way things have truly unfolded. Well, the history is not really written by the victors, rather it is written by someone who is really good with documentation and narrative.
The book “Russia Forever” is a timely intervention into the field of geopolitical literature. Penned by Ashish Shukla, a geopolitical analyst who has shown his presence on International Media. If you follow the international media today, remarks in the favour of Ukraine truly dominates the narrative. The contemporary war in the region is not new. The seed of it was sowed back in 2014 with the Russia’s annexation of Crimea. But what were the reasons behind which forced Russians to barge into a sovereign state and to create it as buffer zone between NATO (Europe) and Itself?
The book draws you to a detailed background of this conflict which traces its roots back in time. Under Gorbachev, Russians were told about the Enlargement of NATO and a “guaranteed non-expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe”. But over the period of time, the bearers of utmost morality and truth — The Americans, gushed from the words of assurance given to the Russians. And NATO expanded heavily & aggressively in Eastern Europe. Seeing it as a potential threat to the Russian Sovereignty, the invasion of Crimea happened followed by the current ongoing war.
This book encapsulates varieties of topics which are covertly interlinked and are necessary for readers to see this current geopolitical affair from a global and rational perspective. Indian Media has indeed been heavily criticised in this book which provides us a clear lens to see through their deception as well. Being a puppet of the West is a decade old fetish of Indian Elites and this book takes upon this subject really well. USA too has a fair share in this book as it was necessary to pounce upon the daddy of the biggies, a country which manipulated the global geopolitical order for personal interests.
Be it the entire Middle East or extremely sensitive junctures like Afghanistan where several interests collide, nothing had been spared by the Americans and their noxious interests. The book challenges the vague western narratives against Russian which often includes India for its independent foreign policy. Russia and India share a mutual affinity towards each other and both the countries strive to create a multipolar world where both of them are the two poles and continue to enhance the already privileged strategic partnership.
It is genuinely great to see that in the midst of modern vicious western rendering against Russia, a book from India comes out in public which induces correct information and narrative into young minds and allow the youth to process this complex geopolitical event in rather easy way. The only drawback one could find is the cluster of information and references cited in the book which could be a bit of a task for an average reader and will require a little bit of brainstorming to comprehend, especially the reference material. But for a geopolitical aficionados like me, it is no less than a treasure trove of information.
At the end, this multifaceted account positions itself as a guidebook to people who are seeking ample amount of information and backdrop to this ongoing event. Written in a very communicative language, the book caters a broad set of audience. This book is truly recommended from my side for geopolitical enthusiasts and I hope they have a great time ahead reading this!