THE PEACE DEAL
Turkey is the new go-between Russia and Ukraine and the BBC says it seems to be working. On Thursday afternoon, President Vladimir Putin rang the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and told him what Russia’s precise demands were for a peace deal with Ukraine.
Mr. Erdogan’s leading adviser and spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, listened in on the call and spoke with the BBC.
It’s not that bad a deal to end the death and destruction. It could have been a lot worse.
There are two categories.
In the first, Zelensky must agree to remain neutral and not join NATO. Ukraine would have to undergo a disarmament process to ensure it wasn’t a threat to Russia. The billions in arms sent by NATO to Ukraine would then belong to Russia.
There would have to be protection for the Russian language in Ukraine. And there is something called de-Nazification.
The second category is where the difficulty will lie, and in his phone call, Putin said that it would need face-to-face negotiations between him and President Zelensky before an agreement could be reached on these points. Zelensky has already said he’s prepared to meet the Russian president and negotiate with him one-to-one.
They involve the status of Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, parts of which have already broken away from Ukraine and stressed their Russianness, and the status of Crimea.
Russia will likely demand that Ukraine formally accept Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, does indeed now belong to Russia. Obama let Crimea go and it’s not going back.
According to US and EU media, Putin has over-extended his military and weakened his position at home. It’s hard to say. In any case, he has a lot of nuclear weapons, NATO needs to stop expanding on Russia’s border, and the fighting needs to stop.
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Scott Ritter has a better understanding of the situation than Any of Our politicians.
https://rumble.com/vxq44c-ep.-5-pain-in-ukraine.html
Schwab says NO.
Is the Crimea situation actually illegal. Once Crimea saw that Kiev had forbidden the Russian language it motivated them to hold a referendum to separate from Ukraine, given they are predominately Russian speakers. This is in accordance with International Law and has past precedents. Look no further than events surrounding Yugoslavia.
Considering that Crimea voted overwhelmingly (over 90%) to be part of Russia, this should be formalized. The same with Donbas. Both are Russian speaking areas with more in common with Russia and are tired of being second class Ukraine citizens. De-Nazification is an interesting issue since that is basically throwing all the World Economic Forum supporters out of Ukraine. Putin is not over-extended and if Zelensky keeps stalling, Putin will likely raze Kiev and annex all of Ukraine. This would make things problematic for NATO. Ukraine has been a failed State for Decades because of continued OSS and then CIA interference. It’s past time the Intel Agencies get out of Ukraine and stop playing political football. The problem is the Corrupt Intel Agencies will need to find another Failed State to launder money through.
If the assessment of ColMacGregor is near correct the terms are generous and are unlikely to be offered again a cuple weeks from now. It’s time for thw madman Zelinsky to come out from behind his human shields and stop the slaughter.