Time for the commonwealth to stop coddling putin | thearticle

Here’s a proper job for Boris Johnson — and perhaps even for King Charles — if  they really want to help President Zelenksy, in addition to agreeable photo-calls and warm words of support.

Use their influence to get the Commonwealth to support the cause of democracy, national sovereignty behind secure borders, and the right of self-determination of the Ukrainian people.

Astonishingly, South Africa this week will begin ten days of naval exercises (17-27 Feb) with Russia and China —  the world’s leading military powers hostile to democracy and freedom.

Exercise Mosi will take place off the Durban coastline of South Africa. The Russian warship _Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov_ will lead the Russian flotilla hosted by South

Africa. It is armed with hypersonic cruise missiles currently being used to attack civilian targets in Ukraine. And the new generation of cruise missiles are hard to stop. The democratic

world gave maximum support to South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa when he was a young trade union leader at the heart of the campaign to end apartheid. It is a sad payback to see

Ramaphosa supporting Putin on the global stage, as the Russian autocrat kills innocent civilian men, women and children in his bid to destroy Ukraine’s independence. Putin’s puppet Foreign

Minister Sergei Lavrov has hailed South Africa’s “independent and balanced” stand against Ukraine. But Southern Africa’s leading democracy is not alone. Thirteen Commonwealth states refused

to vote with the rest of the democratic world in a key resolution at the United Nations last October condemning the Russian invasion. Leading the pro-Putin charge for the Commonwealth was

India, which lays claim to being the world’s largest democracy — even if its autocratic nationalist leader, Narenda Modi, has a record of promoting Hindu supremacism and his more fanatical

followers target Muslim and other minorities in India. Britain’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has close connections to Modi through his father-in-law, Narayan Murthy, one of the richest men

in the world and a long-time supporter and close confidant of Modi. Can Sunak pass the word to Modi that refusing to condemn Putin at the United Nations will only prolong the war in Europe?

Another Commonwealth nation helping Putin is Singapore. While the Singapore government joined with other nations in imposing asset freezes on Russians, there are credible reports that

Singaporean oil storage firms are key middlemen and making serious money cooperating in buying discounted Russian oil and selling it on to global customers. To be sure, Britain does not

control the Commonwealth. Yet its titular head remains King Charles and all UK prime ministers, including Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson, like to portray Britain as a global power, thanks in

part to our role in the Commonwealth. But right now Vladimir Putin is getting far more tacit or direct support from key Commonwealth nations than is Volodymyr Zelensky. Britain’s Prime

Minister, as well as his predecessor Boris Johnson and the new King could appeal to the Commonwealth to support democracy and resist aggression. They could start by ceasing to back Putin at

the UN, pulling out of naval exercises and abandoning sanctions busting. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important

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