By KEMI KASUMU
“Russia, a BRICS member country is now in the cross hairs of the bullies. Ukraine is being used basically as a front, so that Russia can be brought to its knees through unjustifiable sanctions… Countries like Russia and China, thanks to their strong political and economic independence, have managed to defend their territories from these western bullies and must be applauded.”
Immediate past President of South Africa, Mr. Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, has come up in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying there should be no complication of any kind for anybody or nation, who have followed happenings around the world from recent history, to understand the justification for the current Putin’s military operations in Ukraine.
According to him, not even United States of America would not have done more than Moscow has done to defend its national security and for this reason, Zuma, like other African countries including Burkina Faso where citizens staged solidarity rallies last week for Russia, is supporting the mission of the BRICS member country.
The DEFENDER reports that BRICS is the acronym coined to associate five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and that the BRICS member countries are known for their significant influence on regional affairs. Since 2009, the governments of the BRICS states have met annually at formal summits with India hosting the most recent 13th BRICS summit on 9 September 2021 virtually.
The current set of BRICS leaders, from left to right: Xi Jinping, China, Vladimir Putin, Russia, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil, Narendra Modi, India, and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa.
While expressing confidence “that His Excellency President Vladimir Putin will reciprocate and will bring all in his power to make peace a reality, as I know him to be a man of peace who has worked hard to ensure peace and stability in the globe”, President Zuma took a little space to tell the stories of why the world should, rather than taking side against Moscow in the current situation, applaud Russia for taking the bold step to “expose the hypocrisy of the west.”
“Surely in terms of efforts to achieving world peace, the sovereignty of Ukraine and all the democratic dictates cannot mean allowing NATO to establish presence on its real estate; thus, establishing an untenable security risk to Russia. Ukraine and Russia are separated only by a line on the map and not by the Baltic Sea – Why is this complicated to understand?” Zuma asked.
The former South African Leader not only believes that Russia has been justifiably provoked, considering the things that have transpired leading to the war, but also, that “It is however quite fortunate that His Excellency President Vladimir Putin, unlike other small countries, has the capacity (in Russia) to respond to security threats in line with the prescripts that are applicable to his country. His actions, whereas justifiable, are still a far cry as compared with what other big powers have done when faced with such a situation.”
The Jacob Zuma’s statement, issued by Jacob G Zuma Foundation on his behalf, was also posted via the foundation’s Twitter handle @JGZ_Foundation Sunday night.
According to the statement, “Some western powers, who are today playing holier than thou, have invaded a number of small countries in the world e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya to name but a few. These glaring examples of interference have left those countries in ruins.
“The western countries’, and their acolytes’ support of Ukraine (under the guise of defending the sovereignty and democracy in Ukraine) is a selfish act to further their own interests at the expense of innocent lives and property in Ukraine,” the statement said.
Listing the many countries the west had influenced undemocratic change of governments including his own South Africa on the cooked up allegations of corruption without proofs using some stooges within the local system, simply for what he called their self interest, Jacob Zuma was not happy to recollect the many of such unjustifiable actions the west had done to small countries without them having to be able to fight for themselves, saying China would have gone for it but that it has every capacity to proof that it is beyond one to be so touched by them.
“China was attacked by the credit rating agencies but fortunately, China’s economic power is too big and successful, that the rating agencies failed to dent the Chinese economy and its standing globally – China continues to be a force to be reckoned with.
“Russia, a BRICS member country is now in the cross hairs of the bullies. Ukraine is being used basically as a front, so that Russia can be brought to its knees through unjustifiable sanctions.
“This impasse has by default also exposed the hypocrisy of what has become the conventional wisdom which always favours the western forces including their bullying tendencies and their insatiable appetite to dominate others whilst clandestinely furthering their own agendas and interests.
“Countries like Russia and China, thanks to their strong political and economic independence, have managed to defend their territories from these western bullies and must be applauded,” Former South African President Jacob Zuma said in the statement by his Foundation.
