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Letters | Southeast Asia is right to sit on Ukraine war fence
- Readers discuss Southeast Asian nations’ position on the war in Ukraine, and the loss of life in Gaza falling out of the news cycle
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I refer to the report, “Ukraine war: EU fails to convince Southeast Asia to condemn Russia’s invasion” (January 30).
When in 1968 the American athlete Bob Beamon improved the world record for the long jump by 55cm, with his result being 8.90m, no one thought his achievement would ever be bettered. Still, after 23 years, in 1991 Mike Powell jumped 8.95m.
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Something similar happened when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, with the West dominating everywhere and no one expecting that Russia would regain lost territories. But also after 23 years, in 2014, it clawed back Crimea and now there’s Donbas.
Under the circumstances, countries in Southeast Asia can sit on the fence indefinitely. Especially since Moscow proposes something appealing to the Global South that Washington will never agree to: a multipolar world.
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Mergen Mongush, Moscow
Lives lost in Gaza must stay in the news
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