Illusory talk about a “stalemate” and U.S. feelers about peace talks underscore Ukraine having no options left and Russia having plenty, writes Tony Kevin.
Ukrainian soldiers during the Battle of Kupiansk, Sept. 8, 2022. (Kraken Regiment, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
By Tony Kevin
Special to Consortium News
There’s been talk in Western media the past week of an alleged “stalemate’” on the Ukrainian battlefront leading to one report quoting U.S. officials saying it’s time for Ukraine to accept it has lost and negotiate with Russia.
Another Western report says a “delusional” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the lone hold out, however, and is refusing to accept defeat.
The Oxford Dictionary definition of stalemate — either in chess, politics or war — does not apply to Ukraine: “A situation in which further action or progress by opposing or competing parties seems impossible.”
As Scott Ritter excellently summed up in Consortium News recently:
“The war in Ukraine is not by this definition in stalemate. The war has definitely gone Russia’s way militarily and politically since September 2022, by every relevant measure.”
Russia has military supremacy over Kiev in terms of men, equipment, manpower reserves, leadership, national morale and capacity to mobilize arms. It is Russia’s choice now whether to launch an autumn offensive, to wait for a winter offensive, or simply to wait for morale to collapse in Kiev in order to generate Moscow’s desired political changes there. In short, Putin now controls the pace of the game.
In hotspots Avdiivka and Kupiansk along the front lines, Russia has shaped the battlefield into “semi-cauldrons” by means of which, as Ritter notes:
“The Russian goal is to put the Ukrainian command in a dilemma, where abandoning Avdiivka could lead to the collapse of morale among the Ukrainian defenders, and staying could lead to a massive loss of life due to the difficulties associated with reinforcing the garrison.”
Saint Michael Church in Avdiivka in the Donetsk region on April 1, 2023, during the battle for the city. (National Police of Ukraine, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, made this assessment to The Economist magazine a week ago:
“General Zaluzhny’s assessment is sobering: there is no sign that a technological breakthrough, whether in drones or in electronic warfare, is around the corner. And technology has its limits. Even in the first world war, the arrival of tanks in 1917 was not sufficient to break the deadlock on the battlefield. It took a suite of technologies, and more than a decade of tactical innovation, to produce the German blitzkrieg in May 1940. The implication is that Ukraine is stuck in a long war—one in which he acknowledges Russia has the advantage. Nevertheless, he insists that Ukraine has no choice but to keep the initiative by remaining on the offensive, even if it only moves by a few metres a day.”
Zaluzhny is trying sensibly to preserve his inexperienced and unfit remaining forces but is under political pressure from Zelensky and NATO not to cede any territory. On Monday Zaluzhny’s close adviser, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, was assassinated by a booby-trapped birthday gift.
The Ukrainian military have no options left: Russia has plenty. This is a situation where two obviously unequal combatants are waiting for an end, waiting for a military or political resolution to this war.
In the meantime on the battlefield, it is no accident that Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk city from nearby Avdiivka, which has gone on for years, has virtually ceased. Ukrainian supplies to Avdiivka have been choked off by the semi- cauldron there.
Why is Putin Waiting?
Putin on June 16, during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. (Ramil Sitdikov, RIA Novosti Host Photo Agency, Kremlin)
Primarily for Zelensky’s removal and to see what follows in Kiev. He continues to attach importance to trying to minimise further damage and manpower losses suffered by Ukraine, still part, as he sees it, of the Russian world.
A Telegram blog called UKR LEAKS_eng, by Ukrainian special services’ former officer Vasily Prozorov, offers a wealth of daily detail on how politics in Kiev is entering a quite fluid state, as morale on the front collapses and as Washington prepares a possible case to throw Zelensky to the wolves.
U.S. President Joe Biden walks through the Center Hall at the White House with Zelensky on Sept. 21. (White House, Adam Schultz)
The situation in Kiev would seem to require a scapegoat and a degree of regime change. But will a successor negotiate a realistic peace with Russia or will he try to prosecute the war in a new way? He will have no new military options, resources are exhausted and morale gone.
The Western wonder-weapon cupboard is bare. Terrorism options, e.g., another attack on the Kerch Bridge or a high level political assassination attempt in Russia, are always possible but less likely now. Surely the more sensible people in Kiev e.g. Zelensky’s former media adviser Oleksiy Arestovych are already putting out discreet peace feelers to Moscow.
There is talk that Biden would prefer to maintain the status quo till the U.S. presidential election a year from now. However, only a starry -eyed optimist could expect this shaky political and military situation to be standing in 12 months’ time. Something has got to give.
The NBC and TIME Reports
According to U.S. officials quoted by NBC News, the U.S. has begun broaching the subject of Ukraine accepting it will lose territory to Russia and that it should seriously consider entering into peace talks with Moscow. The report says:
“The discussions are an acknowledgment of the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine and politically in the U.S. and Europe, officials said.
They began amid concerns among U.S. and European officials that the war has reached a stalemate and about the ability to continue providing aid to Ukraine, officials said. Biden administration officials also are worried that Ukraine is running out of forces, while Russia has a seemingly endless supply, officials said. Ukraine is also struggling with recruiting and has recently seen public protests about some of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s open-ended conscription requirements.
And there is unease in the U.S. government with how much less public attention the war in Ukraine has garnered since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a month ago, the officials said. Officials fear that shift could make securing additional aid for Kyiv more difficult. …
Officials also have privately said Ukraine likely only has until the end of the year or shortly thereafter before more urgent discussions about peace negotiations should begin. U.S. officials have shared their views on such a timeline with European allies, officials said.”
But is Russia interested in negotiations at this time, given the battlefield advantage it enjoys? NBC says:
“The Biden administration does not have any indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to negotiate with Ukraine, two U.S. officials said. Western officials say Putin still believes he can ‘wait out the West,’ or keep fighting until the U.S. and its allies lose domestic support for funding Ukraine or the struggle to supply Kyiv with weapons and ammunition becomes too costly, officials said. “
According to TIME Magazine, such suggestions of being ready to enter peace talks are being resisted in Ukraine’s leadership only by Zelensky himself.
“Zelensky feels betrayed by his Western allies. They have left him without the means to win the war, only the means to survive it.
Zelensky’s stubbornness, some of his aides say, has hurt their team’s efforts to come up with a new strategy, a new message. As they have debated the future of the war, one issue has remained taboo: the possibility of negotiating a peace deal with the Russians. Judging by recent surveys, most Ukrainians would reject such a move, especially if it entailed the loss of any occupied territory.”
No Longer As Long As It Takes
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses the International Summit of Communities and Regions alongside Zelensky, April 20, 2023. (NATO, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Surely expanding the war is no longer a NATO option despite all the previous rhetoric about “as long as it takes.” In their own different ways, more and more EU governments and populations are registering their exhaustion and disenchantment with this lost war.
Those at the helm of the EU and NATO, Ursula von der Leyen, Josef Borrell and Jens Stoltenberg are damaged goods now. Viktor Orban in Hungary has increasing weight and prestige, and Slovakia has a new anti-war government. Poland, Scandinavian countries and the Baltics have fallen silent.
The other big reason Putin may want to wait is the dangerous instability in the Middle East. Strange as it may seem, I suspect Putin may be concerned to not dangerously overburden the weak and erratic decision-makers in Washington.
He may want to give Biden and his advisers some political space to try to rein in Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and get the Gaza humanitarian crisis, now in tragic free fall, under some sort of U.S. control. As pretty much the only adults in the room now, the Russians and Chinese need to handle Biden with consideration and care.
The so-called stalemate in Ukraine therefore is an illusion. It thus suits both Russian and Chinese statecraft to let Ukraine drift for a while.
Putin’s stature in the Global South meanwhile continues to grow. He put out a Nov. 4 statement from the Russian National Security Council, which firmly bells the cat of Washington’s arrogant and reckless global destabilisation, despite its weakening geo-strategic position.
These extracts give the flavour :
- “Various means and instruments, including lies, provocations, sophisticated technologies of psychological and information aggression, are being used against Russia in order to destabilise and polarise our multi-national and multi-faith society.
- The U.S. is losing its grip as a superpower, losing momentum, the world with just one hegemon is collapsing. But the Unites States is not ready to accept this fact; on the contrary, it seeks to extend its dominance, its global dictatorship. By causing chaos, they want to contain and destabilise their opponents.
- The ruling elites of the U.S. and their satellites are sending weapons and money to the conflict zones, including Ukraine and the Middle East. Failing to achieve results on the battlefield, they seek to split us, split Russia from the inside, to weaken our country and spread discord.
- The stronger Russia is, the more consolidated our society is, the more effective our efforts to defend our own national interest and the interests of the peoples who fell victim to Western neo-colonialism.”
Those who wish for a realistic and lasting peace in Ukraine may need to be patient a little longer.
Tony Kevin is a former Australian senior diplomat, having served as ambassador to Cambodia and Poland, as well as being posted to Australia’s embassy in Moscow. He is the author of six published books on public policy and international relations.
Joe Lauria contributed to this report.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Stalemate? Orwellian Newspeak for losing slowly.
America is exceptionally arrogant. Among America’s many arrogant attitudes, is this belief that America gets to decide when there is a stalemate, or a cease-fire.
There are two big problems with this. America and Europe has already lied to and cheated Russia on a cease-fire deal. They were called the Minsk accords. Now, everyone, Ukrainians and the EU and American sponsors now brag that it was all a big fake to pump Ukraine full of weapons to kill Russians with.
Does Putin look like Charlie Brown? I think it is going to be hard for the Washington Lucy’s to get Russia to kick that football again.
What if Russia has its own ideas about what it wants? What if the whole point of this has been that Russia no longer trusts the West and frankly, doesn’t give a damn what the West thinks or wants about anything? What if the arrogant, aggressive Americans decided to ask for peace, and found out that nobody wants to even take their phone calls any longer? I know Americans don’t know history, but wars don’t end just because one side has decided that this might be a good idea.
Putin looks like he might see the solution that poor old Charlie Brown always missed … back up, back further up, get a good running start, and kick the @%$^ out of Lucy!
Blinken needs to go.Notice that the rest of the Middle East was not interested in talking to him. So now, it seems that Ukraine is a bother and so is Palestine—-but Netanyahu is doing fine—oh the hypocrisy. : (
One aspect of “proxy war” is that decisions are often made for reasons little related to conditions local to the battle.
The intentions of Western rulers are probably not simple nor unified. But it seems we can generalize that the bigger target is Russia before Ukraine, China before Russia, and native subjects before foreign. So Johnson was dispatched to stop a treaty, and Nordstream II was bombed to stop Europe from receiving gas. These predictably damaged Ukraine and NATO more than Russia. Since the rulers are not the countries, this need not have been accidental.
Since it is also obvious that the US cannot force China to submit economically, we ought to ask ourselves what other target our rulers might have.
The stated goals of neoliberals or neoconservatives–for whatever that may be worth–are those often called fascism by the left and communism by the right. However, the actual institutions are evolving in an updated stew, one directed by multinational conglomerates, ill-understood financial engines, and shadow governments.
That raises a lot of questions, sure enough. But whatever answers turn out to have been predictive will have to fit such conditions.
The take away, “Love your country; but, never trust it’s government.” Robert A. Heinlein.
On point, are the U.S./NATO vs. Russia in Ukraine, “flavours,” defining ‘Washington’s arrogance and reckless global destabilization, despite its weakening geo-strategic position,’ succinctly, articulated by the Russian Security Council. FULL context, above, by Tony Kevin. (TY)!!!
“The war in Ukraine is not by this definition in stalemate. The war has definitely gone Russia’s way militarily and politically since September 2022, by every relevant measure.” Scott Ritter
“Many, people,” said, “Putin did not go into Ukraine to play NATO’S war games. Putin went into Ukraine to change it.”
“Illusory talk about a “stalemate;” AND, the right call is, Checkmate?!? “To move a piece placing (an opponent’s King) under threat of being taken on the next move with no way of escape or defense possible. To defeat, completely.”
Hence, the universal refrain is “Ukraine’s the sacrificial Pawn on the Imperial Chessboard.” Russia rocks the Queen. Et tu, U$G/NATO?!?
Everybody, knows, the USG’s got Money, WMDs, Ammo, Soldiers, “whatever it takes;” BUT “No Longer As Long As It Takes.” 10.17.23, The USG’s “Existing stocks of the long-range Army Tactical Missile System were in short supply.” Consequently, secretly, Biden’s-Harris’ War Chiefs, the Pentagon, the $tate Dept., & the National $ecurity Council, sent APAMs, to Zelensky & his War Chiefs. APAMS, the medium-range version, of ATACMS. APAMS carry warheads containing hundreds of cluster bomblets that could hit targets 100 miles away.
APAMs (Anti-Personnel/Anti-Material) is an older version of the ATACMS. “Cluster munitions explode in the air over a target, spreading bomblets over a wide area to increase the destructive radius of the weapons. They are banned by more than 100 countries b/c the unexplored ordnance has the potential to maim or kill people.” Source, DuckDuckGo.com, Search, “Biden Secretly Sends Attack Ems to Ukraine.” Obviously, a colossal clusterfk. Ukraine set-up for failure. Another country used, abused, to be abandoned, by the USG.
Imo, hate, war & fascism is the fuel that powers the USG’s 3-D strategy, deception, destruction, death. The core ingredients of fascism, i.e., “a system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator,” or a political corpse posing as POTUS, masquerading as human.
FASCISM, “A capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, & typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.”
Imo, “many people,” feel the USG’s manufacturing fascism, masquerading it as democracy. Read all about it, “The Last Piggy Bank” Mr. Fish @ “It’s Happening Here,” Chris Hedges, 11.11.23, hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/11/its-happening-here-a-us-version-of-fascism/
*… “Like Judas of old, [the American POTUS, their War Chiefs, Ukraine’s War Chief, Israel’s temporary Foreign Minister, his War Chief], lie & deceive. A world war can be won. [They] want us to believe.
….Let me, ask [POTUS] one question, “Is your money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could? I think you will find when your death takes its toll, ALL the MONEY you made, will NEVER buy back your soul.”
* “Masters of War,” Bob Dylan @ hxxps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K4uMQRQzVmc&pp=ygUfYm9iIGR5bGFuIG1hc3RlcnMgb2Ygd2FyIGx5cmljcw%3D%3D
Ciao.
I missed you LeoSun. A bright light in the dismal dark. But hey, did you know:
“US funds for Ukraine are 96% depleted, says White House”
“The US has gone through 96% of the funds that it allocated for Ukraine, national security council spokesperson John Kirby has told reporters.
The US believes that Ukraine can win back its territory, Kirby said, but acknowledged that progress had been slow, Reuters reports.”
“Some Republicans in the US have become sceptical about further funding for Ukraine’s war effort. The US president, Joe Biden, has urged Congress to pass a $106bn supplemental spending bill for military spending.”
Sceptical? They should be outright enraged. They’ve lost; not only their souls.
Awh, Valerie, Thank You! Ya warm my heart & soul. TY. “We” you & me, plus others, will always be, LEO’s lions, forever!
I love this,“The bright light in the dismal dark;” totally, 100%, sums up Consortium News; inadvertently, “The Ya-Ya Sisterhood.”
“The Ya Ya Sisterhood is a powerful & empowering community of women who share a deep bond of sisterhood, friendship, and support.”
“The true meaning of the Ya Ya Sisterhood goes beyond just female friendships or an exclusive club. It represents a way of life, a philosophy centered on authenticity, acceptance, and unconditional love.” (“Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,”by Rebecca Wells).
Valerie, no doubt, the universe might just consider Kirby’s admission, “Ukraine is Bankrupt,” “admirable.” The Fund$ are 96%, “GONE!” Like the Blue & Yellow flags, flying across the Divided $tates of Corporate America, GONE! There are exceptions, “in my backyard,“ common Democrats, in solidarity w/war, everywhere & anywhere the War Chiefs invade & occupy, w/o declaring war, like Benyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu declared w/o resistance. Au contraire….
I digress, “Let there be songs to fill the air,” even extremely, emotional tunes….
….”If, my words did glow w/the gold of sunshine; and, my tune was played on the harp, unstrung. Would you hear my voice, come through the music. Would you hold it near, as if it were your own?
It’s a hand-me down, the thoughts are broken, perhaps there better, left unsung. I don’t know. Don’t really care. Let there be songs, to fill the air. La da da da da….” “Ripple,” Jerry Garcia w/the Grateful Dead in New York City10.31.80, In Joy @ hxxps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5yJmBC7cMTM&pp=ygUbZ3JhdGVmdWwgZGVhZCByaXBwbGUgbHlyaWNz
Btw, Valerie, 96% sounds like Vladimir Putin’s Approval rating, per his presidency, diplomacy, his statesmanship, his personal physical & mental fitness & the fitness of the country he leads. What are the chances Ukraine rebuilds w/BRICS? BRICS’ is a re$ource. Ya got debt? BRICS’ “got” a tangible re$olution…..The World is f.u.b.a.r. So we sing, “Onward & Upwards.”
TY, Valerie, CN, et al….”Keep It Lit.”
But they are offered a “consolation” prize:
“EU executive proposes to start membership talks with Ukraine once conditions met”
“The EU’s executive have recommended that the bloc starts membership negotiations with Ukraine once it fulfils outstanding conditions, Reuters reports.
“The Commission recommends that the [EU] council opens accession negotiations with Ukraine,” said the Brussels-based European Commission.
It added the talks should formally be launched once Kyiv satisfied remaining conditions related to stepping up the fight against corruption, adopting a law on lobbying in line with EU standards and strengthening national minority safeguards.”
Yes but what will Ukraine actually look like when it accedes to the EU.Its boundaries are currently unclear
It’s a joke fran. The ukraine will never be in the EU. Turkey has been trying since 1987 to join. (One blot on their character was their “dancing bears” and now their opposition of the israeli genocide in Gaza will further hinder their application) This is rather interesting though:
“Zelensky scraps Israel trip – media
The Ukrainian leader reportedly changed his mind at the last minute”
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was supposed to land in Tel Aviv on Tuesday but changed his mind due to a media leak over the weekend, the Times of Israel has reported.
The outlet cited Israeli diplomatic sources as saying the visit is still expected, but “there is no date at this stage.”
Well they wouldn’t give a date if they didn’t want anyone to know about it would they!!!
Methinks he is “persona non grata”.
the start of the end of full spectrum dominance was the end of afghanistan dream….. followed that of minus 95% of opium production happened from the day of escaped usa army…. now we are in front of the start of the end of western values and the real face of ziofascism. The whole world finally understood (thanks to Russia) the real face of neoliberism or turbocapitalism and how evil is the west…..
This is like the beginning of the fall of Rome. It was said that the Roman Ships which cruised up and down the Rhine kept the barbarians at bay, but one winter the Rhine froze over and the barbarians came across in their hordes – this was the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. I don’t know how true this is, but one way or another it certainly rings a bell. Today the old order in the n0rthern hemisphere is beginning to crumble. These pathetic nonentities, Biden, Van Der Leyen, Borrell, Stoltenberg, Nuland and the 5-eyes don’t really know which way to turn. We are bearing witness a seismic political shift which is only tilting in one direction.
The West’s pathetic failings and not even aware of them.
I always like your comments, Vera. Oh, I think they’re aware of them and that’s why they’re always scrambling for new lies, new viciousness, new wars, and a dump truck full of drugs. I know what I would hear if I were a fly on the wall of Congress — just more nastiness — which is why I wish I could be a fly on the wall of the Kremlin! Far more interesting and stimulating discussions!
“He may want to give Biden and his advisers some political space to try to rein in Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and get the Gaza humanitarian crisis, now in tragic free fall, under some sort of U.S. control.”
The problem is Biden and his advisors have no desire to try to rein in Netanyahu, and the humanitarian crisis has been under “some sort of US control” for some time …
The irony is if the US does seriously attempt to “rein in the free fall”, it will be interpreted as another “failure” of the US to back its allies – uh oh, 2 major “failures” simultaneously going into an election year – Ukraine and Israel, sign of a “weak” leader, can’t have that, now can we …
The censoring of Rashida Tlaib, speaking out on the slaughtering of Palestinians, for being “anti-semitic” was joined in by 22 Dems – as Biden stands silent, gives one a clue …
Then Putin may simply be channeling Napoleon’s maxim: never interrupt the enemy when he is making a mistake …
Even though Gaza is actually very small potatoes when considering the Middle East’s realities, it threatens something that makes even the Ukraine war a tiny event. That threat, if you haven’t noticed, is the fast growing hostility that is Israeli and European and American backed genocide-like slaughter of Gaza civilians is having on the entire Muslim world, from Indonesia to where ever there are large Muslim populations. That smacks, in my view, the probability of a global religious war that will make the Crusades of the past look like a cake-walk. I know the Gaza situation, in terms of civilian casualties, is (aside from media coverage) not overly important when looking at what happens to non-combatants around the world, the anger is mounting by the day, and if Gaza is not resolved one way or another by the New Year, that mounting hatred will result in the aforementioned global religious war that will slaughter millions, if not billions, including in Russian regions dominated by Muslim populations. Time is very quickly running out.
Instead of using the word “religious war” how about we use the correct words. War against injustice. war against colonization. War against Genocide and Ethnic cleansing. No matter how the west wants to portray this conflict as religious one, this is nothing but land theft and ethnic cleansing. Israel is using religion as their justification but most of the Zionists are atheists or agnostics. They are just using Judaism to further their goal of expanding their borders while commiting genocide. I know almost all orthodox Jews are against Zionists and Israel. Muslims are also not against Jews either but they are all united against Zio-Nazis. If only west would stop supporting them.
Excellent analysis, thank you. The Biden administration is floundering and lashing out, and it will probably only get worse from here on. It is critical that this administration be retired, along with Joe, if the world is going to get through these hard times. We need leaders who understand the value and necessity of diplomacy, and the Biden crew just doesn’t do diplomacy.
How bitterly ironic that the West is now quietly telling Zelensky he must negotiate when in February 2022, Boris Johnson was dispatched to Kiev to let Zelensky know in no uncertain terms that all aid would be cut off if the word “negotiate” was so much as mentioned by the Ukrainians. Anyone paying even slight attention knew before the invasion had even occurred that that the natural solution to the situation was that Ukraine accept the loss of Crimea and the eastern Donbass and agree to never join NATO, in exchange for Russian acceptance of their perhaps joining the EU at some point. After nearly two years of death and destruction, any deal Ukraine gets won’t be nearly that good. And yet the United States wonders why the world increasingly ignores our pronoucements and the trickle of applications to BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has become a stampede? The reckoning for our unbridled hubris is at hand.
I’m sick to death of these “Racket Wars”! I say we fire the worthless lot in DC and start fresh. What is wrong with this American population and just going along with the status quo? Aren’t you tired of the meatheads in Washington stealing your hard earned cash just to go blow some other country to smithereens? What about keeping that hard earned cash here for the betterment of our country instead of handing it to the likes of Raytheon et al.? We all need to get some backbone or this entire planet is going to end up as rubble!!!
Agree completely, susan. What is wrong with this American population? Their so-called health care makes them sick — which as a severely disabled person I can testify drains one of energy to confront evil — their so-called education is crap (and the more that one imbibes, the stupider one gets), they are in love with junk especially of the tech variety, they are endlessly stressed by everything from the cost of basic needs to whatever shenanigans the banksters are getting up to today. They refuse to look at themselves and their country because it would be too painful. They’re told that everything is supposed to make them “feel good” about themselves, and if you don’t “feel good” it’s your own fault.
I have two paradoxical feelings about Americans and their European brethren: they are monstrous and at the same time pathetic and pitiable.
SOS Susan! I’m sick of these Racket Wars too! The people must abandon the sinking ship of dangerous war-mongering misanthropes in the Repulsive & DemoRAT Party (singular) before it’s too late! Vote for alternative party candidates if you wish for progressive change.
I’ve seen that claim before – most Ukrainians would oppose a treaty with Russia that involved a loss of territory. Who was polled? All Ukies or just the Ukies in territories that had not rejoined Russia? I suspect you’ll get different answers depending on what group you ask.
I suspect you are right.
Time magazine is probably the least reliable of all major US media. I don’t know why anyone would even bother to quote them about what Ukrainians are thinking. If we believe the Time quotation, most Ukrainians would oppose a peace deal with Russia, with or without a loss of territory. Is that so! How then did Zelensky win election on a platform of making peace with Russia?
Obviously, Biden sucked Zelensky into this redicules war when all that ever was required was the signing of the Minsk agreement. The USA is to blame in totality.
Thank goodness for the mature cooler heads in the Russian and Chinese leadership. Washington is a danger to the entire world at the moment being run by a bunch of overconfident know nothings with delusions of Romanesque invincibility. They will have to be disabused of their plans for total Full Spectrum Dominance without them realizing it. It would help if the US population finally got a clue and helped the process along. We can’t afford another Trump or Biden administration. We can’t afford pretty much any member of either war party.
The trouble for the west and the world in general is that there is no viable choice in the USA it is going to be either Trump or Biden. Trump would, possibly, be the lesser of the evils but he still won’t or can’t drain the swamp.
Trump is as much a slave to Zionism as Biden. Plus, he empowers some very dark forces in this country. What Chris Hedges has correctly labeled Christian fascists will have us living like slaves if they don’t kill us outright. We lose big time with either one. Their followers on both sides are delusional about their misleadership.
This country needs to suffer its comeuppance from the sane parts of the world before it does any more damage.
The only comeuppance we are going to get will be due to our own folly and hubris. It is sickeningly fascinating watching one’s country being flushed down the toilet by the genocidal gangsters who rule us. And what do they care? Most of them are so old they’ll be dead and I have always suspected that the Bidens of this world would just as soon everyone else die if they’re going to (they can never quite believe they will die, which is one of their serious psychoses).
I agree, Ms Siens!
Lois, valid points, indeed! I only wish Russia and China would combine their assets to stand up to the “World’s only super-bully” and say “Enough is enough” and intervene militarily to save the rest of the world from American, Israeli, and NATO atrocities.
And yes on Chris Hedges take on Christian fascists who have no knowledge, or certainly don’t follow the Teachings of The Master Teacher or they wouldn’t embrace war and fascism (corporate control) to begin with.
” … no viable choice ..” There are choices – how “viable” they are depends on “we the people”
I’ve just endured an onslaught on Twitter/X from people hell-bent on dissuading anyone from even thinking of voting 3rd party. We will suffer more and more, and take much of the world with us, until we break the hold of the 2-headed uniparty system.
No but he would get rid of a hell of a lot of alligators
I strongly disagree about no “viable” choice in the USA. There are alternative political party candidates running for office for decades, but as long as the voters remain loyal to the Repulsive & DemoRAT combine, the status quo of allegiance to War and the MIC, Wall Street, and the Zionazi state of Israel. On those three issues, the R’s & D’s are united, in spite of petty theatrics in front of the TV cameras in Congress.
I’ve been voting for alternative party candidates since 2000 and proud of every vote I cast. I guess it takes conviction and knowledge of recent history and current events for understand why keeping the duopoly in power is detrimental to the nation and to the world in general, save for the rich-filth who profit and fill their treasure chests with investment blood money from the capitalist and Wall Street War Machine.