Light in the Ukrainian tunnel

denko maleski
Professor Denko Maleski, Photo: Free Press / Archive

America's move to open a direct channel of communication with Russia at the level of defense ministries and to call for a ceasefire and negotiations is a beacon in a tunnel called Ukraine.

Here's the latest hopeful news. Yesterday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Pentagon said Austin had called for an immediate ceasefire and stressed the importance of keeping the lines of communication between the United States and Russia open.

This follows news from Kyiv that Russian forces had suffered heavy losses in fighting in eastern Ukraine, so it could be considered that such an outcome, where the Russians lose, could cause further trouble for world peace. All of America's actions so far have led to a possible confrontation with Russia. The staggering $ 40 billion in military aid approved by the US Congress these days in support of a people ready to fight for their freedom is pushing the two militarily powerful states into a possible nuclear conflict. But the tragedy of Ukraine's position is that, despite its readiness to support the fight to the last Ukrainian, America will not enter into a confrontation with Russia risking World War III. Hence the importance of direct communication between Washington and Moscow, 79 days after the beginning of the Russian invasion of a sovereign European state. Reasonable analysts agree that Putin should not be put in a hopeless situation because no one can predict his state of mind and how he would react.

Vladimir Putin was born seven years after World War II and was imbued with the myth of Russia's great victory over Germany and the importance of the Soviet Union. Growing up in the echelons of the Russian secret services, he, everyone agrees, is not a man of great education. This was very clearly seen in the famous speech he gave shortly before the invasion of Ukraine. His outdated and primitive thoughts about the Ukrainian state and nation backed by his absolute power's the longest-lived ruler of Russia have pushed him into a military adventure from which he can only emerge defeated. The attempt to overthrow the "Nazi clique" in Kyiv and occupy the whole country failed because to conquer and occupy a people of forty million with strong world support is an impossible mission. Of course, Putin has nuclear weapons that he can use against the Ukrainians, but what will that peace be like after that?

Meanwhile, on the international stage, what Kissinger calls a systemic threat to world peace is happening: a situation where one of the great nuclear powers is alone, isolated and dissatisfied with its status in world politics. That, we recall, was the reason for US President Richard Nixon's opening to communist China. Namely, only the world order in which the great powers are satisfied with the status quo is stable.

A ceasefire and negotiations, as Defense Secretary Austin has suggested, will produce unpleasant compromises for the Ukrainians. The most difficult part will certainly be facing the fact that parts of the Ukrainian territory are lost forever. But if that's the price for world peace, the West needs to support the position of Ukrainian politicians. The goal of the West must be to defend the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state, but not more than that. Thoughts of overthrowing Putin or an uprising of the Russian people would mean walking the razor's edge.

What if Putin decides to test the applicability of Article 5 of the NATO Charter and enters one of the small Baltic states or Poland? Will World War III automatically follow, or will it be renegotiated? Personally, I think it will be negotiated again, before humanity commits collective suicide. When Putin's autocratic regime threatens a nuclear response in the event that Russia's vital interests are at stake, he is actually referring to the vital interests of those in power.

Therefore, in the interest of world peace, conditions must be created for Putin to emerge from the catastrophically wrong policy that led to the start of the war against NATO enlargement in Eastern Europe, to end with a new enlargement of the alliance with two vibrant democracies: Finland and Sweden. .

America's move to open a direct channel of communication with Russia at the level of defense ministries and to call for a ceasefire and negotiations is a beacon in a tunnel called Ukraine.

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