The world is in total chaos - there is only one winner

 

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The world is in chaos - here is the only winner 

 

Wolfgang Hansson  

 

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. 

  

Updated 14.17 | Published 14.04 

  

The feeling that the world is sinking ever deeper into chaos is increasing.  

 

The more the attention of the West is divided on more wars than the one in Ukraine, the better for Russia's Vladimir Putin.

   

As Ukraine falls into the shadows, Putin gets a breather and the chance to polish his tarnished reputation.  

 

In the war in Ukraine, there has been no doubt about who is the aggressor and who is the victim. Therefore, it was initially quite easy for the West to drum up relatively broad support for Ukraine.

 

Western support for Israel's war in Gaza makes that picture a little more unclear. Although it was Hamas that started this round of fighting with its terrorist attack on Israeli civilians, it occurred, in the words of UN chief Antonio Guterres, "not in a vacuum".  

 

Outside the West, a large number of countries condemn the indiscriminate Israeli bombings that hit women and children in Gaza, which apparently have nothing to do with Hamas' terrorist acts.  

 

In light of Israel's bombings, it is also becoming more difficult for the West to maintain non-Western support for Ukraine.  

 

The war in Gaza also has more direct consequences for Ukraine. American artillery shells that were intended for Ukraine are now sent to Israel instead. This also applies to other weapons. The US defense minister is not fooling anyone when he calmly states that "we can do both". Everyone knows the shortage of ammunition and weapon systems in the Western world. The war in Ukraine has depleted the stocks faster than they could be replenished.  

 

The diplomatic shuttle service that previously went from Western capitals to Kiev now goes instead to Tel Aviv, Cairo, Amman and Riyadh. All in the hope of achieving some form of ceasefire so that humanitarian aid can reach the suffering in Gaza, free the Israeli hostages and at the same time prevent the war from spreading. 

 

It goes without saying that when the US, in particular, directs so much diplomatic focus towards Israel, Ukraine suffers.  

 

The Gaza war has given Putin a chance to reverse the pariah role he received after the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Putin has launched himself as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, including by inviting a Hamas delegation to Moscow. Russia's support for a Palestinian state is completely in line with what large parts of the world advocate.  

 

Gaza on 5 November. Photo: Mohammed Alaswad / AP  

 

Putin previously had very good relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited him many times in Moscow. But Putin took almost ten days before he called Netanyahu and apologized for the Hamas attack, which he did not, by the way, condemn as an act of terrorism.  

 

Putin can also rejoice that the US Congress now seems more inclined to send military and financial aid to Israel than Ukraine, at least the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.  

 

Right now a political game is going on in Washington which has meant that all new support to both Israel and Ukraine has been put on hold.  

 

In less than a year, there are presidential elections in the United States. If Biden is replaced by Trump or another Republican in the White House, it is almost guaranteed that support for Ukraine will drop sharply.  

 

Not that Putin cares much about criticism from the West, but in the shadow of Israel's bombing, a number of heavy-handed Russian attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine have received only passing attention.  

 

Many of the reporters who previously sent daily reports from Ukraine now do so from Israel instead.  

 

Tanks inside Gaza. Photo: Ho / AP 

 

It seems the worldom can't handle more than one major conflict at a time. You can also turn it around and say that it is unusual that the war in Ukraine has so completely dominated media interest for so long. Most wars disappear from the radar much faster than that.  

 

A contributing factor to the reduced interest, alongside the Gaza war, is that a stalemate has arisen in the conflict. Ukraine's generals themselves say that their offensive is stuck because of the Russians' strong defense. At the same time, the Russians also lack the ability to advance.  

 

Ukraine's commander-in-chief describes it as a repeat of the First World War. A frozen trench war. 

 

A long war favors Putin. Russia has significantly more soldiers to deploy and Putin's standing at home does not seem to be affected despite the sacrifice of so many young men's lives.  

 

Outside the Western world, parallels are drawn between the war in Ukraine and that in Gaza. The West is accused of double standards. Why is it a war crime when Russia bombs civilians in Ukraine but not when Israel bombs civilians in Gaza?  

 

That kind of argument plays right into Putin's hands.  

 

But the question is whether the Russian leader is not going a little too far in his cynicism when he demands a Security Council meeting to discuss an attack on a hospital in Gaza. It is the same Putin who for 20 months had Ukrainian schools and hospitals bombed.  

 

Vladimir Putin. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/AP