Sunday 16 June 2024

Protagonists in wars in Gaza and Ukraine are nowhere near a settlement of any kind

The meeting of dozens of international leaders in Switzerland to talk peace in Ukraine is basically a total waste of time. It's PR at best. Russia and Ukraine are miles apart in terms of even contemplating an end to the war and all the support Zelensky is getting from most of the world leaders is meaningless because neither Russia nor China are at the meeting. So it's all well-meaning verbiage. Putin cunningly set down his marker for peace prior to the meeting in Switzerland which caused no surprise: peace, he said, would be immediate if Ukraine agreed to hand over four chunks of the country to Russia for ever and renounced any ambition to join Nato. Simple, Putin said. Zelensky and his 50 supporting international leaders, have of course joined together to give a very different message - total sovereignty for all of Ukraine and withdrawal of all Russian troops. So, absolutely no room for compromise, no room for a meaningful peace settlement and no end to the war. End of meeting, end of story. The same goes for Gaza. Biden wants compromise to bring the war to an end, but neither the Hamas leaders in Gaza nor Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, are interested in compromise. Netanyahu wants the total destruction of Hamas and the safe return of all the hostages, and Hamas wants all Israeli troops to leave and to stop fighting. Total impasse whatever the Biden administration says. The two wars will go on and on.

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