No heroes, villians in geopolitics

Vladimir Putin is not a nice man. How do we know that? Well, because the bulk of the international news we get here on the southern tip of Africa comes through the prism of what used to be known, during the Cold War, as “The West”.

And though the Iron Curtain may have fallen almost 30 years ago, those old conflicts are far from resolved.

Now that the Russian president has announced a significant withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria, there will be many who question his motives and who point to his support of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, who has been accused of atrocities against his own people.

The reality, though, is that Russian military power helped to crush the terror forces of the Islamic State.

Russia is not the only large power which intervenes in affairs outside its borders – the United States has been doing this on a far wider scale for far longer.

So, while we are not hailing Putin or the Russians as international heroes, we urge that when we, as South Africans, take a view on global issues, let us remember there are always two sides to every story.

In geopolitics there are no heroes … or villains.

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