The gist of the Western media’s position on the Ukraine situation is that the entire world is with Ukraine, except for a few renegade states  under the Russian thumb.

This is far from the truth. The Anglophone world, meaning the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and to a lesser extent the EU, are on average on the same page.

But, in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, the case is entirely different.

Here, the Western position has been met with skepticism and seen as an occasion to reassert the non aligned position and develop economic and strategic alliances beyond the West.

India:

Despite the threat of US sanctions, should India continue to buy military equipment from Russia, informed opinion is solidly on the Russian side. Indians see NATO’s expansion as posing an existential threat to Russia as a nation. There is also a good deal of contempt for the moral posturing of the West on this. People remember how the US tried to bully India when Mrs. Gandhi intervened to end the blood bath in Bangladesh, surely the very definition of a just war. People also remember the devastation of the entire Middle East by American intervention and America’s indifference to Pakistani and Chinese encroachments on Indian territory.

As well, Russia has offered to discount by 25% the cost of wheat purchases by India and is considering bilateral trade in rubles and rupees. Meanwhile, the shortfall in global wheat production from the war’s impact on the two leading wheat producing nations of Ukraine and Russia offers an opportunity for Indian wheat exports to expand.

China:

In the left wing English language paper, The Hindu, China complained about third parties trying to create a wedge between China and India and insisted the two had a valuable relationship the Chinese were not going to jeopardize, even over border disputes.

China also said that the QUAD should not be turned into an Asian version of NATO.

China emphasized that while it advocated for a peaceful resolution in Ukraine, it felt that Russia had indeed been provoked and had justification for its response.

From Japan Today:

China has said that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations must be respected — a stance that runs counter to an invasion — while also opposing sanctions on Russia and blaming the U.S. and NATO’s eastward expansion for being the root cause of the crisis.

“China is trying to have its cake on Ukraine and eat it too,” Asia Society president and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wrote in a post on the Asia Society Policy Institute website. He noted that China has lifted import restrictions on Russian wheat, which could offset some of the economic pain of sanctions.

For many of those imposing sanctions, China’s actions amount to support for the invasion.

Pakistan:

EU members published a joint and open letter suggesting that Pakistan should have condemned the Russian invasion. This provoked an outburst from PM Imran Khan that Pakistan was not the slave of Western powers and would follow an independent policy. It was on good terms with Russia, with the US, and with the EU and saw no reason to change that status.

“What do you think of us? Are we your slaves … that whatever you say, we will do?” Khan said while addressing a political rally.