When Russia invaded Ukraine it represented a watershed moment for the Western world that evoked a sense of history, urgency of the moment, and existential conflict.

Because the event means the return of the bogeyman of the 20th century, which seeks to re-divide Europe.

These factors have combined to give an emotional character to Ukraine's struggle against Russia in which the Western world has plunged.

This is what Tariq al-Majrisi, a researcher in political affairs in the North Africa and Middle East Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, sees in an article in the Foreign Policy magazine. .

Maghrisi pointed out that the West rushed to supply Ukraine with weapons, while young volunteers from far western countries rushed to the Ukrainian front to participate in the fighting, and it seemed that everyone welcomed the arming of a people of 41 million people, and plans were made to speed up the country's accession to the European Union.

And as the war dragged on, those efforts increased, as the United States will provide Ukraine this month with drones, military helicopters and heavy artillery to help defend Donbass, while other allies are preparing anti-aircraft missile launchers, artillery and possibly fighter jets to support the Ukrainians in their war to repel the Russian invasion.


The West is planting the seeds of a long-term crisis

Al-Majrisi says that what is happening now in Ukraine brings to mind the days when the popular revolutions against the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned violent.

The policies of supporting the well-intentioned revolutionaries were dictated by the hope for change, the realization of the truth, and the urgency of the moment, which prevented the necessary precaution and the required planning.

The writer warned that the result of this policy in dealing with the war in Ukraine, as in dealing with the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, is that the West sows the seeds of a crisis that may continue for the next 10 years because of its failure to plan carefully now.

He said that the West began supplying Ukraine with a huge amount of weapons before the start of the Russian invasion, including advanced weapons such as the legendary Javelin missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, armored cars, advanced radios, and everything needed to excel in modern warfare.

The writer suggested that the volume and speed of air transport of Western weapons to Ukraine is the largest in contemporary history.

risk

The article highlighted the danger of supplying Ukraine with this amount of weapons, especially dangerous ones, noting that the supply of missiles such as Javelin and Stinger is usually subject to strict control, and under strict conditions of use due to their strength and danger.

The revelation that France had deployed Javelin missiles during its covert operations in Libya in 2019, caused great embarrassment for Paris.

The writer mentioned the bad record of Eastern European countries regarding the deployment of weapons in conflict areas in the world, pointing out that Ukraine's poor record in this area was a cause of tension in its previous negotiations with NATO during its efforts to join the alliance.

The writer concluded by warning that the West, by supplying a country involved in the spread of arms with advanced weapons worth billions of dollars, and in which the role of regulation and control mechanisms is absent due to the war, has moved the first dominoes to a path that ends with enabling terrorist groups or other non-state actors to obtain Javelin and Stinger missiles once the dust of war in Ukraine clears.