You did well Najib. Now on to the next stage.
By Zan Azlee

I admit to the fact that when Malaysia Airlines MH17 was shot down, and when fingers were pointed towards Russia and President Putin, I wanted our government to be aggressive too.

When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak made his statement early on July 18, I was utterly disappointed that it turned out quite tame. He made a mere mention of Russia, the separatists in Donetsk and nothing more.

Other world leaders had been vocal and intimidating. In that immediate hour, Malaysia was in shock and in anger. Our country, which had no direct enemies anywhere in the world, had suffered an attack.

The attack happened in a region that is going through a violent conflict that we are not even remotely involved in. The situation was extremely complicated and geopolitics became the word of the day.

Ukraine, a country that has seen decades of turmoil ever since its separation from the former Soviet Union is facing a separatist crisis. Russia, which is the superpower of Europe’s Eastern Block has vested interests in all the countries surrounding its borders.

I guess the bitterness of the fall of their empire is still evident.

Ukraine, on the other hand, has the backing of the Western Europe and the EU saw Russia encroaching as an inescapable threat. And what of the all-mighty United States of America?

Let’s just say that their foreign policies are at times viewed to be one-sided. And just like its rival arch, Russia, the Cold War probably hasn’t ended in their eyes.

So, allow me to reiterate that geopolitics is the order of the day. It’s so complicated that I don’t even have the strength and endurance to digest it all. It just gets worse especially when Malaysia gets violently sucked into it without any warning. [Click to read the full article at English.AstroAwani.Com]