Those who don’t have an opinion on the Trump-Zelensky conflict seem not to. Since the sympathies were handed out in advance, it was to be expected who would be on whose side. And that’s exactly how it is. Besides, the public space is full of reflections on who advised who, who insulted who, who was wrong about what, etc. I cannot comment on such speculation.
However, we can clearly compare what the interests of each party are.
AIMS OF THE RUSSIAN PARTY: To keep the conquered territories definitively. To create a situation where it will be impossible to attack Russia from the territory of Ukraine or former Ukraine (that’s the glorious NATO membership of Ukraine). To have a regime in Ukraine that is not aggressively hostile to Russia (no need for a friendly regime, just neutral or mildly hostile). Get the confiscated money back. To have as few more dead as possible.
AMERICAN GOALS: To undo its involvement in the war. To disrupt the Russian-Chinese alliance. To get as much money, raw materials, etc. as possible. And to generally cover up the fact that American military power is no power at the moment. That the weapons and ammo depots are empty and miracle weapons don’t exist.
GOALS OF THE VOLODYMIR ZELENSKY REGIME: To continue the war for another year or two. To get another million Ukrainians killed and eventually to agree to terms much worse than those offered today.
THE GOALS OF WESTERN EUROPEAN POLITICIANS: To keep the war going as long as possible, to get the Russians as close to their own borders as possible, and to use this to repress their own population.
The problem is that successful negotiations depend – among other things – on two factors:
- I have to admit to myself what I want
- I must be able to formulate demands to the counterparty.
Zelensky might say, for example, the following: I propose a compromise – give me three more months of war and 300,000 dead Ukrainians, then I will agree to peace. The problem is that he is incapable of this. Then it is reasonable to leave such a person out of the negotiations altogether.
By the way, a defeated Ukraine does not need a “just peace” but “generosity on the part of the victors.”
