It does seem surreal, on one level, that the Sec Gen of UN, Antonio Guterres, should go to Moscow and engage in negotiations with Putin/Russia.
But Putin is head of the Russian Federation and it's not up to the UN to tell the Russian People how to run their country.
Most of us now realise that Putin is a vicious dictator that has orchestrated the theft of maybe one $ Trillion (1000 Billion) from the Russian People and has zero respect for world order/rule of law/human rights etc but he heads up a major nuclear power so the Free World must live with Putin/Russia for now.
Germany held the view until February (probably) that Putin was a state leader that the Free World could 'do business with'
Many of us saw 'Glasnost' 'Perestroika' etc and saw the collapse of the Soviet Union as it morphed into a 'democratic' Russian Federation.
So we can understand the concept of 'Ostpolitik' and why we scrambled to sell our Kerrygold and Beef to Russia.
But for anyone with even a scrap of moral fibre and decency, the reality has finally dawned that Putin is a Mass Murderer/Terrorist up there with historic monsters such as Hitler/Stalin/Poll Pot etc.
It's not rocket science from here on - Russia under Putin is a Pariah State and the US lead Free World must take every possible step to help Ukraine whilst moving to cut all economic ties with Russia (in a manner aimed at avoiding an epic world recession) China, India, Middle East OPEC Members must decide for themselves how to engage with Putin/Russia. Effectively they must align themselves to best suit their strategic needs/policies
As I posted earlier, the US (Trumpless) calls the shots now, Thank God, and it hosted a meeting of 40 allies at Ramstein Air Base (Germany - at least Olaf didn't have far to travel lol) to coordinate the Free World response to Russia/Putin. Germany signalled its full commitment. These meetings will occur monthly until Ukraine reaches a point when it will end or declare a stalemate in the 'War'
That's where we are right now and there is no point in arguing with idiots on this forum about how or why we got to this point (I'd strongly advise the Ignore Function to BMs that want intelligent dialogue but up to you - discussing this with the Stan Ogdens in this Forum is akin to having a political debate with Mick Wallace/Claire Daly)
A thesis such as 'The US is to blame for Putin' or 'US should align itself with Russia to face the real threat - China' - makes as much sense right now as 2 bald men fighting over a comb
Ukraine will continue to spill its blood and pay a horrific price but as the Estonian PM said 'Freedom is priceless'
www.ukrinform.ua
