UN General Assembly condemns Russian invasion
The United Nations General Assembly has passed by an overwhelming majority a resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and calling for the immediate withdrawal of its military forces. 141 members voted for the resolution, with five votes against and 35 abstentions. A previous binding resolution in the UN Security Council failed due to the Russian veto. How far does Putin's influence still reach?
Putin increasingly isolated
For Polityka Russia has enduringly isolated itself:
“Putin is already assured of a place on the rubbish heap of history. The leaders of other countries that are considered traditional allies of Russia, including in Central Asia, don't want to end up next to him. They have not sent troops, they have not recognised the separatist republics in Donbass and are trying to remain as neutral as possible and keep a low profile.”
The West is not everything
Russia is less isolated than it appears, says Corriere della Sera:
“Besides China, India and Pakistan also abstained. An indication of what could bring two arch-enemies like India and Pakistan together is the purchase of weapons from Russia. Also conspicuous was the abstention of the United Arab Emirates - which will perhaps be the next refuge for the capital of the oligarchs now banished from London and Zurich. Turkey, a Nato member, is not participating in the economic sanctions. The West is united, but the West is not everything. Seen from Beijing or Delhi, from Karachi or the Persian Gulf, it seems less clear that the crisis is so conclusively devastating for Moscow.”
Kick Russia out of the Security Council
Der Tagesspiegel calls for even more drastic action against Russia:
“Nothing is set in stone. And even that can crumble. The Wall also came down. Ergo: Why does Russia have to be on the Security Council until the end of time? Just because it is sitting there as successor to the Soviet Union, which collapsed, doesn't mean that that status is sacrosanct. The law is also changing. And the patience of the other states with one whose ruler instigates a war, gives in to his superpower ambitions and wants to re-establish the USSR should be finite.”
What about the Palestinians and the Uyghurs?
Atrocities committed by regimes in other parts of the world should be just as harshly condemned, The Irish Times demands:
“If we stand against one aggressor, we should stand against them all. ... If we understand the Ukrainians' right to resist occupation, we should extend that courtesy to Palestinians; if we are repelled by the slaughter of children in Ukraine, we should feel equally appalled by the Saudi carpet bombing of children with western bombs; and we should equally condemn atrocities committed by other anti-western regimes, from the barrel bombs of Syria's Assad to China's oppression of the Uyghur Muslims.”