It seems that Russian politicians right now are panicking and confused. They make all kinds of allegations against Ukraine, Europe, and Trump. They say, “Didn’t we want to have peace? Why now a ceasefire?” How does this make sense?
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How can you say you want peace, but you don’t agree to a ceasefire? How can you say you want peace, but you keep bombing, preferably apparently civilians? How can you say you want peace, but you still keep lying about the original problems or the basic issues that caused this conflict?
Well, the issue is that Russia does not want to tolerate a separate, independent, democratic Ukraine.
If you want peace, you want it immediately. If you want peace, you talk peacefully. You don’t threaten with nuclear weapons. If you want peace, you don’t blame the victim, Ukraine, or its allies who support the victim—Europe, and right now Trump. You don’t blame them for supporting Ukraine. If you want peace, you don’t continue to denigrate the victim of your aggression as somehow less than.
Listen to Russian propaganda right now. It is telling you exactly what Russia, contemporary Russia, Russian leadership is about. They don’t want peace. They want to eliminate as many Ukrainians, as much of Ukrainian identity as possible. They want to, after that, continue on with business as usual. They’re actively promoting their imperial agenda.
I don’t understand how more people don’t seem to understand this. But it seems that we are now at a point where more people understand this than they used to. Part of it is because Russian propagandists just can’t help themselves. They scream into the camera about nuclear attacks, about eliminating Ukraine, all of these things. They’re very upfront about it. They’re very shocked that allegedly Trump did not maintain his agreement with Putin that allegedly was reached in Alaska.
There was no agreement in Alaska. Look at my video. I analyzed that. Trump did not look happy. Putin made an 8-minute speech. Trump sat there and looked at him as if this guy is from a different planet.
Even Trump by now cannot pretend anymore that he can be a neutral arbiter. Is Trump on the side of Ukraine? That question is misleading. The problem is that Trump has thought, apparently, if I can interpret it that way, that he can be both leader of the West and thus supporter of Ukraine in some ways, and negotiator between the West and Putin’s Russia. His previous relationship with Putin has put him into a position to think he can talk to the man. His profession as a businessman and real estate developer has positioned him in a way or predisposes him to think that a deal can always be made if only people get together.
Now it is clear he knows. Now it’s useless to talk to Putin. It’s useless to talk to Lavrov because they’ll keep lying about their peaceful intentions. And how do we know they keep lying? Because if you want peace, you stop attacking. If you want peace, you want a ceasefire.
Now, Trump has been very clear. He wants to stop the killing, the killing of both Ukrainians and Russians. Russians, however, are being killed because Ukrainians have to defend themselves. Ukrainians are being killed because Russia chooses to attack. Because Putin, for some reason, has put himself in a situation where the survival of his current kleptocratic system is at stake in his own view.
But we should not care what Putin wants. We should not care what happens to Putin. He is now on a completely selfish mission. As Louis XIV said later, “L’état, c’est moi” – the state, that’s me. That’s what we are confronting. That’s not good for Russia, that’s not good for Ukraine, that’s not good for the world.
If Russians want to get out of this, the only way is actual peace, is an actual stop of the aggression against Ukraine and other NATO countries too, because we are in a—well, we are at war. They call it hybrid, but there’s no hybrid war. There’s either war or peace.
Peace comes from an attitude you have. It comes from a disposition you have to others that you are willing and able and even encouraged to live together with others, to let them be who they want to be. That is peace.
Every single day, Russia demonstrates that’s not what they want for Ukraine. And this is why there cannot be a deal with Russia right now until that changes.
Peace without ceasefire makes no sense.
Ceterum censeo Ucrainam esse defendam. Слава Україні!
[This was originally posted to YouTube as a video. This post is a slightly abbreviated transcript, preserving the oral style of the video.]
Erratic Attempts 