Guest Post: Speedbox – Negotiate for Peace


Well, here we are.   Approaching two months since Russian forces moved into Ukraine with no resolution currently in sight.   Indeed, the opposite is true with the west, led by the United States, feeding vast quantities of weapons into the Ukrainian military.

Have you noticed how muted the calls for a ceasefire are in our media?   Sure, some individuals make these occasional calls but there seems very little appetite for a ceasefire as any such act will invariably see Ukraine have to cede some territory and agree to neutrality.   The USA for their part seem implacably opposed to any cessation of hostilities and as I read the other day, seem intent on fighting to the last Ukrainian.

We must acknowledge that Ukraine is in an invidious position with two unpalatable choices.  Namely, make a concerted effort for peace (albeit at a humiliating price) but which will preserve Ukraine as a nation and spare its people or, fight on against a superior force that is laying waste to Ukrainian towns and infrastructure.

We can all understand Ukrainian President Zelensky’s reluctance to talk peace but it is inconceivable that he genuinely believes he can prevail.   As of today, Russia holds substantial territory in the east and Moscow appears to have accepted that Russian troops will not be welcomed as ‘conquering heroes’ and is concentrating its military efforts.   Russian military doctrine on the utilisation of artillery is on full display with many towns being completely flattened or, at best, rendered largely unliveable.

Urged on by the west and the MSM, Zelensky has framed the war with Russia as a battle for democracy and in his address to the US Congress on March 16, Zelensky said, “Right now, the destiny of our country is being decided.  The destiny of our people, whether Ukrainians will be free, whether they will be able to preserve their democracy.”

Of course, the MSM lapped it up and has showered Zelensky with flattering reports including, believe it or not, his potential nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.  During the 2022 Grammy Awards on April 3 there was even a flashy musical tribute to himself and the Ukrainian military.  So drooling has been the hero worship that the MSM has already fantasised about seeing Russian President Putin before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.   Seriously.

But if ever there was a case of somebody believing the press releases, this is it.   We can’t help but wonder whether the international ‘acclaim’ is influencing Zelensky’s rational thought.   Each day brings dozens or hundreds of new deaths and injuries; homes demolished; infrastructure destroyed, yet talk of peace, or even a ceasefire pending meaningful negotiations, gains no traction.

And in fact, the opposite appears true.  US President Joe Biden has repeatedly denounced Russia for its violations of international law yet as leader of the free world, hasn’t even bothered to pick up the telephone to Putin and adopt a peacemaker approach – but he continues to authorise additional weapon shipments.

We shouldn’t be surprised as the west has long put the Ukraine in a bleak position with false starts and promises.   As Cats well know, for decades every opportunity for a diplomatic solution on NATO, Russia and peace have been brushed aside – it’s almost like we wanted this war to happen.   It is an inconvenient truth that by discouraging Ukraine from considering compromises for peace, means more Ukrainians will die.

And there can be no mistaking that U.S. and European governments share blame for causing the conflict.

Who can forget President Putin’s words of December 2021 when he said, “I want to make it clear to everyone, both in our country and abroad, to our partners, that it’s not even about the line that we don’t want anyone to cross.  They have pinned us against a line from which we have nowhere to retreat”.

At the time, Moscow was trying to come to an agreement with NATO on mutual security, hoping that the US-led bloc would agree to provide comprehensive written guarantees that it would not expand any further to the east.  Filled with arrogance and self-righteousness, Moscow was treated with indifference for which the world, and the Ukraine in particular, is now paying a high price.

None of us can truthfully know the extent of the Russian military strategy but as far as Zelensky and the Ukraine are concerned, Russia possesses a firepower and manpower advantage it has yet to fully deploy.  An increasingly impatient Russian government may progressively abandon their inhibitions in the use of force with dire consequences for the Ukrainian people.

The choice for Zelensky is surely about what is the ‘least bad’ outcome.  Are the Swiss quietly shuttling back and forth between Moscow and Kyiv?   Or the Turks, the Israelis or the French?  I don’t know nor do I particularly care who is trying to diplomatically resolve this matter – but this war has to stop before Ukraine is a smouldering ruin and a mere memory.

Perhaps unwisely, I hoped that the US, UK and most European governments would offer at least as much support for peace, as they do for war.


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Angus Black
Angus Black
April 21, 2022 10:30 am

Based on their previous behaviour, the committee awarding the Nobel Peace Prize are more likely to choose Vlad Putin than anyone else (though, possibly, Bewildered Biden has at least a shout).

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
April 21, 2022 10:36 am

Maybe the Ukrainians believe that it’s better dead than red.
We have seen a few instances where Ukrainians have refused to surrender in the face of annihilation. Maybe they know more about living under Putin than the armchair critics in the West.

Boffin
Boffin
April 21, 2022 10:42 am

The flaw in this argument is that it diminishes utterly the consideration of Ukrainians, who give every sign of having refused to accede to Putin’s demands and in fact demonstrate quite clearly that they do not fit in with Putin’s desire to reinstate the Czarist empire. It would appear rather obvious that Putin, having invaded, now has to win. His troops have withdrawn from many areas in. the north, exposing their murderous intent – a very strong incentive for Ukrainian (whether they speak Russian or not) to fight very hard to keep the enemy at bay. Of course, Putin may need to sue for peace as his entire authority relies on being a tough guy, winner. Losing might be bad for his health, especially if he ever sends some actual Russian troops into the kill zone.

Bluey
Bluey
April 21, 2022 10:50 am

And in the meantime much of NATO is emptying their stocks of munitions. The US has sent 1/3rd of their stocks of javelins for example, and while much of what’s been sent is old inventory, NATO for the most part doesn’t have much of anything.
I think the Russians claim to have already destroyed an aggregate of nearly everything that’s not far off the collective inventory of NATO, bar the US.

The Russians are serious, the rest of the world is not.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
April 21, 2022 10:54 am

Talking to my best friend yesterday, an out n out lefty made a good comment. His take is this is only to keep the the armament factories in the US going. Promises are made to deliver arms in the future but never happens. The swamp has to be fed or is that fetid.

Frogger
Frogger
April 21, 2022 11:18 am

I think you make the mistake of giving agency to Zelensky. He is the puppet of US geopolitical ambitions.
The US and russkies are both in an existential economic and civilizational crisis, wholly of the US empires making and unbounded hubris.
You also make the mistake that most Ukrainians wouldn’t support Putin. I would grant that the western Galician Ukrainians may think that way (most probably soon to be occupied by the Poles reclaiming lost territory) but the majority of central and especially the Ukrainians (ethnically Russian) east of the Dniepr would support Putin. The reason any open support is suppressed is because it will get you a bullet in the back of the head after requisite torture or at best a thorough beating or goal if not getting glad wrapped around a street pole for not pronouncing bread in Ukrainian and being a suspected saboteur. There are plenty of vids/photos on Telegram attesting to this. It’s what happens when you let US and EU supported Naxi’s infest a country and flood the place with miliary grade weapons and empty the prisons of any psychopaths.

Chris M
Chris M
April 21, 2022 11:36 am

but this war has to stop before Ukraine is a smouldering ruin

That would be for the locals to decide surely? We are the other side of the world and don’t really know what is happening due to mass propaganda from both sides.

If Vlad does succeed in grabbing an eastern strip off Ukraine he gets a smoldering ruin with destroyed building and infrastructure combined with dead people…. is this success? Destroy the village to save it? Silly Commo, looking no brighter than Biden.

Roger
Roger
April 21, 2022 11:48 am

It’s up to Ukrainians to decide their future.

Meanwhile, the woke-left has found a border worth protecting and a war it supports.

Ideology has triumphed over peace and pragmatism.

Old bloke
Old bloke
April 21, 2022 11:52 am

Chris M says:
April 21, 2022 at 11:36 am

but this war has to stop before Ukraine is a smouldering ruin

That would be for the locals to decide surely? We are the other side of the world and don’t really know what is happening due to mass propaganda from both sides.

The locals aren’t in a position to decide, Ukraine is run by the US State Department so it’s up to them and Putin to decide when and where the war ends. This is why the euros didn’t want Ukraine in NATO, they knew they would be dragged into a war with Russia whenever the US neocons wanted to amuse themselves.

I can’t say that I’ve seen any “mass propaganda” from the Russian side, there’s very few reports on the ground from that side, and anyone attempting to report contrary to the approved narrative ends up dead.

Partition is the only solution.

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
April 21, 2022 11:55 am

Frogger said

You also make the mistake that most Ukrainians wouldn’t support Putin

But they will die rather than live under Putin, I think you need to look at what is happening after you remove your anti USA glasses.

pete of perth
pete of perth
April 21, 2022 12:04 pm

The Russians a partly funded by Europe as they are still buying Russian gas. Germany their biggest customer.

Roger
Roger
April 21, 2022 12:10 pm

The locals aren’t in a position to decide, Ukraine is run by the US State Department so it’s up to them and Putin to decide when and where the war ends.

In that case they stuffed up bigly when their man Poroshenko lost the presidency to Zelensky, who at the time was regarded as pro-Russian.

Frogger
Frogger
April 21, 2022 12:30 pm

RIP Gonzalo Lira. Chilean YouTuber holed up and trapped in Kharkov. Critical of Zelensky, tough acerbic and scathing of the US and western narrative. Thoroughly enjoyed his vids, although I only became aware of him a month ago. Found, tortured and it seems very likely to have been killed by Ukrainian forces. Nemichev territorials aka Ukrainian volksturm. 🙁

Kneel
Kneel
April 21, 2022 12:32 pm

“…Putin’s desire to reinstate the Czarist empire.”

While I would certainly not dismiss Putin’s desire to re-instate “Greater Russia” as it were, there is also the issue – from the Putin side – that the independence of Ukraine was contingent on them remaining neutral and NOT joining NATO or the EU.
How would the US react if Mexico had joined the Warsaw Pact and there were tens of thousands of USSR troops providing “training” and doing “exercises” in Mexico? Would that have been acceptable in the 1960’s or ’70’s? And Russia has been invaded many times over the centuries, unlike the US, so they have a much more paranoid outlook.
Or what if the USSR had used great gobs of cash and other influence to install a pro USSR government in Mexico? How would the US have reacted?
We saw how the US reacted to the USSR wanting to put nuclear missiles in Cuba, and it wasn’t pretty.

And recall that Russia (Putin) has been complaining about this and other issues for over a decade and nothing has been done, other than when Trump was US President, and all that turned out to be was a hiatus or minor hiccup in the ongoing and unannounced “cold” war against Russia.

Frogger
Frogger
April 21, 2022 12:43 pm

Big Nambas. I’m pretty sure Putin is going in to facilitate the warm meeting in Hades of the minority of Ukrainians associating themselves with Bandera and the loving history of his Naxi disciples, past and present. I’m pretty sure the russkies had enough of the Naxis the first time around. No anti US glasses needed. Just a tiny bit of history and geopolitical awareness is all that’s required lol.

Petros
Petros
April 21, 2022 12:53 pm

Roger, Poroshenko was most certainly not pro-Russian. Where did you get that claptrap from? The attacks on the Donbas region started under his presidency for one thing. There are many other examples of his anti-Russian attitude.

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
April 21, 2022 12:54 pm

Kneel says,
How would the US react if Mexico had joined the Warsaw Pact and there were tens of thousands of USSR troops providing “training” and doing “exercises” in Mexico? Would that have been acceptable in the 1960’s or ’70’s? And Russia has been invaded many times over the centuries, unlike the US, so they have a much more paranoid outlook.</strong

Probably the same as they have to their northern neighbor who have installed Castro's son to lead a totalitarian socialist government.

Roger
Roger
April 21, 2022 12:56 pm

Roger, Poroshenko was most certainly not pro-Russian. Where did you get that claptrap from?

Er…the concluding clause refers to the immediately preceding subject, Zelensky.

rosie
rosie
April 21, 2022 1:23 pm

A ceasefire, sincere negotiations.
That would be nice.

Rob MW
Rob MW
April 21, 2022 1:34 pm

At the time, Moscow was trying to come to an agreement with NATO on mutual security, hoping that the US-led bloc would agree to provide comprehensive written guarantees that it would not expand any further to the east. Filled with arrogance and self-righteousness, Moscow was treated with indifference for which the world, and the Ukraine in particular, is now paying a high price.

My disdain for Putin, in this particular case, is completely overshadowed by my absolute and utter disdain for the “West’s” really fucking unrealistically stupid response given they (the West) has known full well what the Zelensky regime has uncritically allowed the Azov Nazis to do and go unchecked, bordering on genocide, in the Donbass region following the Euromaidan coup in 2014.

That the West would actually fund and arm these fucking Nazi arseholes and at the same time play wankeroo with Zelensky just seems (to me at least) quite unbelievable and really, really stupid. Probably the biggest oxymoron this century so far to be any reference to the West’s intelligence institutions.

Damon
Damon
April 21, 2022 2:10 pm

Replace Ukraine by Australia, and Russia by China. The same logic applies. Self preservation, and not really our problem. The Solomons and NZ are already essentially Chinese territories.

Vicki
Vicki
April 21, 2022 2:21 pm

I often wonder what invisible rays must be focussed on the populations of the West for their populations to regularly slip away into the Fantasyland on so many current issues. COVID and the vaccines, and now the conflagration in Ukraine, are but two of the more obvious examples.

If one can cast away the Cold War thinking of old, and examine the struggles within Ukraine of the last 20 years, I think that one can agree with much of what Speedbox has so cogently put together. To believe that Zelensky, and what is left of his forces, can indefinitely hold out against Putin’s determination to end the long drawn out civil war in eastern Ukraine is ridiculous. And yet that is what is fed to us on a daily basis in the puerile popular media.

I would have thought that Zelensky would have accepted terms to partition Ukraine by now, but maybe he and his supporters are so compromised that they don’t believe that their safety can be guaranteed by any peace terms.

Petros
Petros
April 21, 2022 2:40 pm

Lousy diction, Roger. Zelenskyy campaigned on Ukraine entry into NATO and the EU.

John Michelmore
John Michelmore
April 21, 2022 2:41 pm

Rob MW, +100

jock
jock
April 21, 2022 2:50 pm

So you advise surrender or at best a miserable settlement that eviscerated Ukraine and turns into a puppet state.? I don’t know that Ukrainians would accept that.
These scenarios of course let putin obtain what he wanted. At a higher cost. But the result would still be good for him.
I don’t know the answer, but I know these sort of one sided invasions never really end. Ask the scots or the Irish.
It’s to be hoped that putin and his acolytes are removed. Perhaps a new Russian president can offer a better way forward.

Damon
Damon
April 21, 2022 3:17 pm

No new Russian President is going to change. Deal with the world as it is, not as you hope it will be.

Damon
Damon
April 21, 2022 3:30 pm

“they don’t believe that their safety can be guaranteed by any peace terms”
Since Putin is a verified assassin, ,do you blame them?

Rt41Rebel
Rt41Rebel
April 21, 2022 3:35 pm

Well, if you ask questions about the cause of the war, like Carlson, you’re called a Putin sympathizer and worse by the MSM. And if you’re concerned about American troops fighting the ground war against the Russians, like Gabbard, you’re accused of treason by Romney.

Roger
Roger
April 21, 2022 3:39 pm

Lousy diction, Roger. Zelenskyy campaigned on Ukraine entry into NATO and the EU.

It’s grammar nor diction, dickhead. Take some lessons before you question me again.

And read up on what Zenesky campaigned on while you’re at it.

.

Damon
Damon
April 21, 2022 3:48 pm

” Gabbard, you’re accused of treason by Romney”
If Gabbard had been elected, would we be in this shit? Of course not, Romney would be in gaol.

2dogs
April 21, 2022 4:19 pm

Ukrainians, who give every sign of having refused to accede to Putin’s demands and in fact demonstrate quite clearly that they do not fit in with Putin’s desire

They voted for a president that said he was going agree to a peace deal with Russia. Zelensky betrayed his voters to their deaths.

Zipster
Zipster
April 21, 2022 4:23 pm

So you advise surrender or at best a miserable settlement that eviscerated Ukraine and turns into a puppet state.? I don’t know that Ukrainians would accept that.

you speak as though ukraine is a unified whole

Zipster
Zipster
April 21, 2022 4:27 pm
JC
JC
April 21, 2022 4:28 pm

That the West would actually fund and arm these fucking Nazi arseholes and at the same time play wankeroo with Zelensky just seems (to me at least) quite unbelievable and really, really stupid.

How would you rate un-remorseful full retard Stalinists in Russia? Just curious.

Ed Case
Ed Case
April 21, 2022 4:32 pm

Harking back to the Twitter pile on of Katherine Deves the other day, her most vociferous attackers also name checked the Ukraine Flag and the LGBTIQ flag.
Zelenskyy/Ukraine is a proxy for LGBTIQ, simple as that.

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 21, 2022 4:44 pm

Ed Casesays:
April 21, 2022 at 4:32 pm
Harking back to the Twitter pile on of Katherine Deves the other day, her most vociferous attackers also name checked the Ukraine Flag and the LGBTIQ flag.
Zelenskyy/Ukraine is a proxy for LGBTIQ, simple as that.

Strange, Dickless, I don’t recall your words of support for Deves. Are you part of that proxy?

Ed Case
Ed Case
April 21, 2022 4:57 pm

Sure, SpongeBob.
Flamers support their fellow flamers.
Think back to your support of Anwar Ibrahim, Boris Yeltsin, Obama,…
You get the idea?

2dogs
April 21, 2022 5:05 pm

How would you rate un-remorseful full retard Stalinists in Russia?

Who are you saying in Russia today is Stalinist?

I note that the Communist Party still exists in Russia; it is the main opposition party to Putin. It has been democratically elected to power in several oblasts. Do you mean them?

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 21, 2022 5:45 pm

Ed Casesays:
April 21, 2022 at 4:57 pm
Sure, SpongeBob.
Flamers support their fellow flamers.
Think back to your support of Anwar Ibrahim, Boris Yeltsin, Obama,…
You get the idea?

In your dreams Dickless.

PS, as a US-style “progressive”, weren’t you a big supporter of O’Bummer, and now Creepy Joe Biden.

Ed Case
Ed Case
April 21, 2022 6:27 pm

SpongeBob:
It’s okay to be a Flamer.
It’s not okay to support murderers on the basis that they’re fellow Flamers.

Rob MW
Rob MW
April 21, 2022 7:20 pm

How would you rate un-remorseful full retard Stalinists in Russia? Just curious.

About the same as the 1940’s Nazis did, the live ones at least. How do you rate the current Ukraine Azov brigades ? – even more curious.

Also I’m interested in your feelings towards unremorseful strawmen ? Hope they don’t overcook your dinner.

miltonf
miltonf
April 21, 2022 7:44 pm

The Washington War Machine wants wars and the old thief was installed to ensure that they happen.

miltonf
miltonf
April 21, 2022 7:46 pm

I find Russia a much more admirable country than a country that makes a x dresser an admiral. The US makes me want the vomit now.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
April 21, 2022 8:37 pm

Frogger Rob MW and Vicki I agree with you.
I also agree with Ed Case.
I can’t help this is at the revolting Clinton’s,O Bama Democrats who murdered Gaddafi when her was pa
Landing a unified African Bank for African development , the Syrian chap – the oil pipeline to Europe – now Russia and China planning to build the railway from China to mainland Europe.
The mineral are in Eastern Ukraine and the steel mill in Mauripol.
If I was a native Ukrainian I would also be a “Nazi” after my countries history with Russia the past 900 years.
This is a mess the US did not understand, just like I do not understand the social dynamics.
Another attempt by the effiminate Democrats against a real man who is useful – a soldier.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
April 21, 2022 8:43 pm

Oops I did not see what happened – When Gaddafi was planning a Unified African Bank to develop Africa.

My apologies – absolutely spent

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 21, 2022 8:53 pm

Ed Casesays:
April 21, 2022 at 6:27 pm
SpongeBob:
It’s okay to be a Flamer.
It’s not okay to support murderers on the basis that they’re fellow Flamers.

So why do you?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 22, 2022 11:47 am

Zelenskyy Says He Needs $7 Billion Per Month Western Government Subsidy to Sustain Economy

(VIA CNN) – “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukraine needs $7 billion per month in financial assistance to make up for the economic losses from the war.

In a virtual address to a World Bank forum, Zelenksy also said that it would take “hundreds of billions of dollars” to rebuild his country later.

He said every country must be prepared to break all relations with Russia and that Moscow should “immediately” be excluded from all international financial institutions including the IMF and the World Bank.” (link)

Plus, “10% for the big guy”.

another ian
another ian
April 22, 2022 12:52 pm

Abiding by the rules eh?

“NATO Is Invalid And The Nations In It Deserve What They Get”

https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=245696

another ian
another ian
April 22, 2022 12:56 pm

“2022 State of The American Experience
What does the American landscape truly look like?”

https://culturalhusbandry.substack.com/p/2022-state-of-the-american-experience?s=r

Via

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2022/04/21/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire-19/

And

“Rex Murphy: The United States is adrift, and Joe Biden is no captain

The U.S. is in turmoil, beset by factionalism, and absent a real leader”

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-murphy-the-united-states-is-adrift-and-joe-biden-is-no-captain

Via SDA.

And they’re trying to stir up a war with Russia? Sounds like “Hold my beer” on steroids!

Boffin
Boffin
April 22, 2022 2:46 pm

Kneel: Ukraine did not join NATO or EU. Putin invaded anyway. So this is a barbaric act, seemingly designed to give Putin a good feeling about his imperial powers. In doing that, he has encouraged both Finland and Sweden – which had neutrality positions since 1946 – to apply to join NATO. (Finland actually repulsed a Russian invasion after WW2 – locals proudly point to the bullet holes in buildings in Helsinki). And if NATO is the issue, why does Putin not invade neighbours who actually joined NATO?
Is not a credible excuse and a rather pathetic one in terms of Russian propaganda.

  1. JC at 6:02:- – Biden ‘Sharp-as-a-Tack’ HoaxFollowed by the “We never said that” gaslighting. – Iowa Poll HoaxNot m0nster’s finest…

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