Renee Parsons<\/p>\n
In February, 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was initiating a Special Military Operation<\/span><\/a> against neighboring Ukraine. With less than a full military commitment, the intent of the SMO was to restrain NATO from its planned \u201cadvancement of alliance infrastructure to the borders of Russia<\/i>\u201d in addition to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Putin\u2019s message explained that \u201cmilitary development in Ukraine’s territories are unacceptable. The problem is not NATO itself \u2013 it is only an instrument of US foreign policy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Putin continued\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThe problem is\u00a0 <\/span>that <\/i>territories<\/i><\/span><\/a> adjacent historically ours were\u00a0 <\/span>being created, placed under full external control; intensively settled by the armed forces of NATO with the most modern weapons.\u201d<\/i>[4]<\/sup><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Those eastern Ukraine regions that Putin identified as separatist-controlled, yet ethnically and culturally Russian with 15% of Ukraine population, have a long, historic presence in Russian recognition.\u00a0 <\/span>They are Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and\u00a0Kherson. \u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n After a predictable affirmative public vote<\/span><\/a>, all four regions maintained their ethnic heritage<\/span><\/a> in approving an annexation to Mother Russia. It has been formal Russian recognition of their sovereignty which encouraged the SMO to protect those Russian speaking oblasts. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Today, as a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine continues to stall, determination of sovereignty remains one final essential element<\/span><\/a> to any peace agreement.\u00a0 <\/span>The indispensable nature of these regions has been conveyed to Trump with the message that no Russian agreement can be made without their inclusion.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n All four of those regions held citizen votes in 2014 which provided overwhelming support for a return to their Russian heritage and citizenship.\u00a0 <\/span>By 2014, the Kiev government banned the Russian language and began\u00a0 <\/span>a violent eight year war with terrorist attacks on civilians<\/span><\/a> including widespread human rights violations<\/span><\/a> with almost 20,000 fatalities.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n At that time, Putin officially\u00a0recognised the DPR and the LPR as independent states<\/span><\/a>, <\/i>per the UN Charter\u2019s\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Article 51<\/i><\/span><\/a> on self defense <\/i>explaining that\u00a0“for eight years now, those regions have been facing humiliation and a genocide battlefield perpetrated by the Kyiv regime.<\/i>“<\/span><\/p>\n It is ironic that after years of bloody conflict between eastern Ukraine and Kiev, the Zelensky government is now insistent that those independent regions<\/span><\/a> remain in and belong to Ukraine. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n Almost immediately after the SMO announcement, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived with a message for President\u00a0 <\/span>Zelensky that if a peace agreement was signed in Istanbul<\/span><\/a> on March 29th, the \u2018collective<\/i>\u2019 west would not make any financial commitment to his country\u2019s success. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n On March 29<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span>, delegations from Ukraine and Russia met in Turkey to deliberate on a draft peace agreement considered by the US as foundational to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.\u00a0 <\/span>Later, however, Ukraine withdrew from the agreement citing the influence of Boris Johnson<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Of special concern, EU leaders then agreed to boost defense spending with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposing an \u20ac800 billion ($870 billion<\/span><\/a>) rearmament plan with each EU nation to increase military spending by 1.5%.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe confrontational rhetoric and developments we are currently witnessing in Brussels and other European capitals are, of course, fundamentally at odds with any intention to pursue a peaceful settlement around Ukraine<\/i>,\u201d said Dmjitry Peskov,\u00a0 <\/span>Putin\u2019s press representative.<\/span><\/p>\n With 45% of the world\u2019s natural resources<\/span><\/a>, Russia remains the richest country in the world, a highly desired goal for asset starved Europeans.<\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n Three years into the Ukraine war, with an estimated 1.2 million Ukraine fatalities, it is inconceivable that after their Oval Office confrontation<\/span><\/a> that Zelensky has been allowed to continue a hopelessly bloody conflict that persists in destroying Ukrainians while maintaining the pretense there is a level playing field.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Upon inauguration as the self-proclaimed peace President, Trump could have issued an Executive Order to stop the war or to halt US funding or military supply deliveries to Ukraine.\u00a0 <\/span>He did not as he recently sent $1 Billion worth of military supplies to Ukraine \u201cat the president\u2019s discretion<\/i>\u201d and continues the inexplicable bombing of Yemen in retaliation for their support of Gaza and opposition to Isreal shipping through the Red Se<\/span>a.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Current negotiations on a \u2018ceasefire\u2019 have stalled with Russia reluctant to limit their negotiating ability and to raise other substantive issues as, for instance, Russia cannot allow Zelenskyy to rearm during a ceasefire as the EU escalates its fund raising efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In a recent Oval Office conversation<\/span><\/a> with Mark Rutte, Secretary General of NATO, Trump was quoted as saying they talked about \u2018concepts of land\u2026that would be kept\u00a0and lost and other elements of a final agreement<\/i>\u201d as well as Ukraine\u2019s entry into NATO \u2013\u00a0 <\/span>topics that might have put Putin\u2019s teeth on edge.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>It might have seemed that Ukraine\u2019s lack of entry into NATO was a foregone <\/span>conclusion \u2013 that it was not going to happen. \u00a0 <\/span>How appropriate was it for Trump to openly discuss details of the ceasefire draft with a representative of NATO already known for wanting to sabotage any ceasefire\/peace agreement.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Secretary of State Marco Rubio in commenting on the continuing failure of a peace agreement offered the troubling perspective that \u201cI think we need to remind every body that this is not our War.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>We didn\u2019t start it<\/i><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>The United States has been helping Ukraine because over the last three years and we want it to end. So if they are serious about peace, either side or both, we want to help.\u00a0 <\/span>If it\u2019s not going to happen then we\u2019re just doing to move on<\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In a recent news clip, Trump iterated that \u201cthe war between Russia and Ukraine is <\/i>Biden\u2019s war<\/i><\/span><\/a>; not mine.<\/i>\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m just trying to get it stopped.\u00a0 <\/span>This is not my war; this is Biden\u2019s war<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Both may have forgotten that the US, through NATO, has been threatening to move eastward right up to the Russian border for the last thirty years; despite an acknowledged promise to Gorbachev in 1990\u2019s that such a move would never happen. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Rubio may need to be reminded that the US provided just under $200 billion to continue the Ukraine war as well as an unknown quantity of weapons delivered to the Ukrainians over a three year period. \u00a0 <\/span>That level of funding suggests that Ukraine was accepted as an American-embraced war with multiple Congressional votes in support.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Rubio\u2019s further comments came after a Paris luncheon<\/span><\/a> with European leaders who were also meeting with representatives of Ukraine.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWe are not going to continue this endeavor for weeks and months on end, so we need to determine very quickly now, I\u2019m talking a matter of days whether or not this is doable over the next few weeks.\u00a0 <\/span>If it is, we\u2019re in;\u00a0 <\/span>if it\u2019s not;\u00a0 <\/span>we have other priorities to focus on as well.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n One might wonder what other more vital priority do the top two US officials have but stopping WW III.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n In referring to the draft ceasefire, Rubio commented that the \u201cblueprint the U.S. presented was broad and did not get into the specifics of potential security guarantees for Ukraine<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In other words, the Russians have not rushed to sign a complicated document<\/span><\/a> which\u00a0 <\/span>may contain terms they may not be comfortable with or set a dangerous precedent.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The President confirmed<\/span><\/a> that \u201cif, for some reason, one country makes it very difficult; we\u2019re going to just take a pass.<\/i>\u201d \u00a0 <\/span>Trump went on to confess to NBC that he was \u201cpissed off\u2019 at Putin for failure to secure<\/span><\/a> a ceasefire.<\/span><\/p>\n Today,\u00a0 <\/span>he is running out of patience<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Rubio and Trump cannot be seriously thinking about \u2018walking away\u2019<\/i> but words have power.\u00a0 <\/span>Five thousand miles from Washington, DC, Putin may hear what sounds like a softening of Trump\u2019s resolve to end the war in a favorable way. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Both sound as casual as if they are talking about a more mundane matter of little consequence with the war in Ukraine still a potential to turn into WW III. \u00a0 <\/span>Trump\u2019s ego may be on the line since he promised to end the war twenty four hours after inauguration and that has not happened.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Despite Trump\u2019s bluster, the pre-election bombast failed to materialize as President Trump has surrounded himself with a neo con foreign policy bureaucracy that continues to lob 500 bombing sorties on Yemen at an estimated cost of $1 billion. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/p>\n Trump\u2019s envoy to Russia and long time business friend with no diplomatic experience is\u00a0 <\/span>Steve Witkoff<\/span><\/a> who met with Putin as Trump urged that Russia \u2018<\/span>get moving<\/i><\/span>\u2019 on a peace deal. \u00a0 <\/span>After the Putin-Witkoff meeting, Witkoff, who has the temperament of a professional diplomat, has suggested that the fastest way<\/span><\/a> for peace is for the US to support Russian ownership of the four regions. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It remains paradoxical that after years of bloody conflict as Kiev bitterly attacked those historic Russian-speaking regions for eight years, the Zelensky government remains insistent that those regions remain and belong only to Ukraine as it refuses to recognize the rights of those four regions to Russian citizenship. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n