More than a year after Russia attacked Ukraine, it is now more than clear that this is not just a war between two countries, but between many countries.

The only reason why we have not called this the Third World War is because the many sides backing Ukraine have not formally joined the war themselves, as is the case with two potential allies of Russia, Belarus and China.

Ever since the war began on 24 February 2022, almost all NATO countries, and a few non-NATO countries, have been sending arms, ammunition and logistical support to Ukraine.

These countries include the US, Germany, France, UK, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Australia and Italy. Even Japan, usually a peacenik constitutionally, has supported Ukraine militarily.

More recently, Pakistan, which is client state of China, has also supplied arms to Ukraine through an indirect route, indicating that it may be seeking to rebuild bridges with the West, while also making money on the side by supplying arms to Ukraine.

On the other side, while Russia has China’s overt diplomatic backing, the latter has denied sending arms to its ally.

But rogue state North Korea has no such compunctions, and is said to be supplying arms to it.

Whether this is a proxy for China or its own decision few people will know.

Iran has supplied drones to Russia, and some kind of covert support may be available from Belarus, but Belarus being a Russian client state, the chances are the flow may be in the opposite direction.

On the other hand, if China is using this war as a distraction while it prepares to regain Taiwan by force, we are talking about the real possibility of a covert global war being escalated to something worse than the Second World War.

Ukraine also affords other countries the opportunity to settle scores with their enemies in their own regions.

For example, India could well see this as an opportunity to seize parts of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir, especially since this terror-supporting state is depleting itself of arms and is on the ropes economically.

While a formal India-Pakistan war is not advisable (this is the last thing the world needs right now), there is no reason why India should not start encouraging Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and even Sind to make a run for independence or autonomy within Pakistan.

If Pakistan has sworn to bleed India by a thousand cuts, why not bleed Pakistan with at least 500 cuts in return by widening its internal fault lines?

If anything, we should quietly tell the Pakistanis that if they want peace, they should drop their Kashmir chorus forever (formally, and in writing) if they want us to stop supporting their separatist movements.

2023 is a dangerous period in world history, and we should be very careful in expanding the scope of the war to new areas. But it should not restrain us from quietly supporting forces that will put pressure on our enemies to sue for real peace.

We should be doing more than just buying cheap Russian oil.