UNDERSTANDING GEOPOLITICS CORRECTLY: IS UKRAINE FAR FROM BEING A PRIORITY?

The US administration announced that approximately 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed in the Kursk region of Russia.

There are also those who claim that this number is 12,000. This means that North Korean soldiers have also reached the European borders!…

So, from whose perspective how should we interpret and analyze these developments in and around our region?

First of all, it is worth noting that: Those who cannot create their own geopolitical understanding continue to dream of others.

The Ukrainian President said that “Western countries were just watching the developments instead of helping them”, as thousands of North Korean soldiers were deployed to the front against Ukraine.

It seems that, despite technical assistance; Even though there is an impression that Ukraine is being supported by sending some old weapons and ammunition, it has been fighting alone against Russia from the very beginning. While there is no loss for the countries that promised to help Ukraine, the only ones who were displaced, killed, injured and whose country was left in ruins are Ukrainians.

Halford Mackinder, in his theory summarized in 1919 (Democratic Ideals and Reality, Mackinder, 1919: 150); “Who rules Eastern Europe commands the Heartland; those who rules the heartland rules the world.” he said. According to him, Germany and Russia should never be brought together.

Many comments and opinions can be made about Ukraine, right or wrong. However, the developing events inevitably bring the following questions to our minds.

• Why did a crisis that could have been prevented peacefully and diplomatically before it even started coming to this point?
• Is the aim to ensure the security and welfare of the Ukrainian people? Or is it the sacrifice of a country and its people in the name of aid in achieving global superiority?
• Can it be claimed that the events taking place in Ukraine have nothing to do with the Heartland theories put forward by the British Halford Mackinder in 1904 and the Rimland theories that the American Nicholas J. Spykman continued with his own ideas?
• Has Russia’s connection with EU countries, especially Germany, been weakened or cut off by creating Russian fear? Who benefits from all this?
• In this case, in the October 2024 issue of the World Economic Outlook Report, published by the IMF under the title “Policy Change, Increasing Threats”, the growth forecast for the Eurozone economy is lowered (Germany’s 2024 growth forecast is 0%), and the USA’s 2024 growth forecast is increased. How should we interpret the increase in growth rate from 2.6% to 2.8% in the US economy while European countries decrease?
• Likewise, how should interpreted our thesis, at the current point of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, “A power center from outside Eurasia can only survive by attracting some countries from this region as an ally or by creating conflicts between countries in this region, as is clearly seen in the events in the Middle East and the remaining part of the world.”

Spykman’s geopolitical work, which stated that the security of the United States directly related preventing the formation of a force against itself in Eurasia, was published in 1942.

Subsequently, this book received many rave reviews such as “Even if people does not agree with some of its points, based on merit and American values, this book should be in the homes of at least 1 million Americans and American officials should read this book once a year for 20 years.”

After all; Those who read and understand history, geography and geopolitics well continue to manage/direct the world and perceptions as they wish.

Those who do not know, under the influence of guidance, following unnecessary discussions, continue to sleep and see and describe other people’s dreams as if they were their own.

Referances:

Mackinder, H. J. (1904). “The Geographical Pivot of History”, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 170, No. 4, December 2004, pp. 298–321.

Mackinder, H. J. (1919). Democratic Ideals and Reality: A Study in the Politics of Reconstruction, New York: Henry Hold and Company.

Haas, H. (1942). America’s Strategy in World Politics. The United States and the Balance of Power. By Nicholas John Spykman. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.

“Political Geography of Power,” Geographical Review, 32/1, (1942): p 350.