Our Friday News Analysis | In Search of a Nation's Soul (Part 14)

Illustration by Neil Jamieson for TIME Source Images: Getty Images (12); Ivanchuk: Lena Mucha—The New York Times/Redux; Kondratova: Kristina Pashkina—UNICEF; Kutkov: Courtesy Oleg Kutkov; Nott: Annabel Moeller—David Nott Foundation; Payevska: Evgeniy Maloletka—AP

"Remembering the Past is Committing to the Future…"

To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war.

To remember Hiroshima is to commit to peace.

To remember Hiroshima is to turn disaster into a new beginning.

…

Let us embark on the arduous path of peace, the only approach that suits human dignity, the only way that leads to the proper fullness of human destiny, the only path to a future in which equity, justice, and solidarity are realities, not just distant dreams."

Read more: Saint Pope John Paul II, ‘A Balance of Power NOT a Balance of Terror,’ the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, Japan, 25 February 1981.

Mr. Zelensky, Become the Leader You Are Meant to Be!

Since President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration on 20 May 2019, has he done everything he could to avoid war with the Russian Federation? Indeed, he inherited a civil war between the Nationalists in the West and the Separatists in the East. It’s a conflict that’s been brewing since the 1990s.

What is the Side of the Story that is Not Yet Decisive?

By Abraham A. van Kempen, featuring: 

• Open letter to President Volodymyr Zelensky
• ‘Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day Speech,’ 9 May 2022’
• ‘John Mearsheimer on Putin’s Ambitions After Nine Months of War – The realist American political scientist explains why Russia’s move to annex four Ukrainian provinces isn’t imperialism.’
• The New York Times Guest Essay, ‘World War II Begins with Forgetting,’ by Stephen Wertheim.
• An Anonymous Letter in My Inbox

The Hague, 9 December 2022 | If you know of any story that is decisive, tell the world. We're still searching.

An international community of 40 countries sent hundreds of € billion in financial assistance to Ukraine between 2014 and 2023, exceeding Ukraine’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of roughly $100.1 billion.

What has Ukraine, flushed with cash beyond its wildest dreams, gained under President Volodymyr Zelensky?

1. Ukraine has ‘gained’ a brain drain of millions of Ukrainians who, understandably, have sought refuge in the EU and Russia.
2. Recognizably, Ukraine has ‘gained’ a new neighbor in East Ukraine, a new territory voted by 86 percent of its inhabitants – Ukrainian nationals of Russian descent – to become part of the Russian Federation.
3. In want of warmth inside their homes, Ukraine has, evidently, ‘gained’ increased power blackouts with freezing temperatures outside.
4. Reportedly, for every 10 Ukrainians killed, Ukraine has ‘gained’ one dead Russian.
5. Ukraine has ‘gained’ growing resistance from its people against their government. They demonstrably reject their government’s demand to serve NATO as cannon fodder and human shields, especially under harsh winter conditions.

Despite the recent infusion of €93.8 billion sunk into Ukraine from 24 January to 3 October 2022, derived from 40 countries in financial, humanitarian, and military aid, Ukraine (and the EU- US/NATO has not gained an inch in accomplishing its offensive strategy – disguised as a defense -- against the Russian Federation. The United States doled €52.3 billion to this impoverished nation to kill and get killed rather than to live, let live, followed by the EU with €29.2 billion and €12.3 billion from other countries, mainly the United Kingdom.

What could the newly elected and wet-behind-the-ears President of Ukraine have done?

1. Mr. Zelensky could have engaged the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) to guarantee the safety of all Ukrainians, especially those of Russian descent who feared for their lives, as ASOV executed many as saboteurs, separatists, or simply undesirables.
2. Mr. Zelensky could have engaged the EU-US (NATO) Axis to guarantee Russian access to Ukraine’s seaports along the Black Sea, including Odesa, to facilitate shipping lanes for the free flow of Russian oil, gas, grain, and other exportable products.
3. Mr. Zelensky could have engaged the EU-US/NATO Axis to guarantee the free flow of Russian oil and gas through advanced pipelines from Russia through Ukraine to Central Europe and Germany.
4. Mr. Zelensky could have secured trade agreements with all EU member states connected to the EU-US/NATO Axis.
5. Mr. Zelensky could have secured trade agreements with the entire Russian Federation.

And what an economic feast it could have been for Ukraine, located between East and West.

A natural conduit, Ukraine could have been the buffer state between the EU-US/NATO member states and the entire Russian Federation,
managing the flow of Russia’s natural resources coveted by the EU.

Ukraine could now earn $billions of new-found revenues
as a go-between between East and West.

Mr. Zelensky, your mother tongue is Russian. You are endowed with a rich education. You’ve read Aleksandr L Solzhenitsyn who writes about the best and the worst of us:

“… truth eludes us as soon as our concentration begins to flag, all the while leaving the illusion that we are continuing to pursue it. This is the source of much discord. Also, truth seldom is sweet; it is almost invariably bitter."

Often when we’re on the right road, we take the wrong exit that takes us to a brick wall or, worse, a slippery slope toward a ravine.

East and West are at war. Global hegemony is at stake. The people of Ukraine, serving the EU-US/NATO Axis as cannon fodder and human shields, are smack in the middle.

Open Letter to President Volodymyr Zelensky

Dear Mr. Zelensky,

Have you noticed? NATO is impotent. It didn’t stop Russia from invading and attacking and decimating Ukraine.

Have you noticed? The sanctions haven’t stopped Russia’s resolve. They hurt, but they won’t hinder Russia from securing its shipping lanes and pipelines.

Have you noticed? You bet on the wrong horse. The United States is imploding from within – Democrats versus Republicans. The leaders of the European Union are blaming each other for cutting their fingers – stopping the flow of oil.

Have you noticed? You have triggered a tectonic change in global geopolitics. The world needs to recalibrate its balance of power. One global policeman is not enough. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Mr. Zelensky, why do you insist on limiting yourself? Ukraine’s destiny is to become the go-between between the EU and Russia.

Mr. Zelensky, peace can never come too late. Read Vladimir and Volodymyr … Rulers of Peace? Your first name in Ukrainian, Volodymyr, translates to Vladimir in Russian. Volodymyr or Vladimir means ‘Ruler of Peace.’ I strongly urge you and Mr. Putin to live up to your names.

Mr. Zelensky, stop the rhetoric and reach the noble pursuits of your Presidency. Three fingers point at you when you point your finger accusing, condemning, and denunciating Russia. You have caused millions of your fellow citizens to displace, disperse, and separate from their loved ones and caused many to shiver in the cold or die.



Sincerely,

Abraham A. van Kempen

Reaction from President Vladimir Putin (Read ‘Vladimir Putin’s victory day speech,’ 9 May 2022.’):

“In December last year … Russia called on the West to engage in honest discussion to find fair compromises which accounted for each other’s interests. All of this was in vain! They didn’t want to listen to us. And this means that, in reality, they had entirely different plans, and we have seen this.

…

Let me repeat. We saw all this military infrastructure being set up. We saw hundreds of foreign advisors beginning to work and the regular deliveries of the most modern weaponry from NATO countries. The danger grew with each passing day. So, Russia launched a preemptive attack against this aggression. It was necessary, timely, and the only choice—the decision of a sovereign, strong, independent country.

…

Russia will never reject love for our homeland, the truth or those traditional values, the customs of our forebearers, and respect for all nations and cultures.”

[Editor’s note | To liberate Europe from NAZI Germany, Russia sacrificed 27 million of its noble citizens, slaughtered by the NAZIS.

John Mearsheimer on Putin’s Ambitions After Nine Months of War

December 08, 2022
Source: The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/john-mearsheimer-on-putins-ambitions-after-nine-months-of-war

By Isaac Chotiner
Published November 17, 2022

The realist political scientist explains why Russia’s move to annex four Ukrainian provinces isn’t imperialism.

“What motivates him is fear of Ukraine becoming a part of NATO,” John Mearsheimer says of Vladimir Putin. Photograph by Grigory Sysoyev / Sputnik / AFP / Getty

               “Back in February, a few days after Russia launched its war in Ukraine, I spoke with the political scientist John Mearsheimer.

               A longtime observer of US foreign policy—on which he has tended to cast a skeptical eye—Mearsheimer largely blamed Putin’s invasion on the West, arguing that, by expanding NATO, the West had cornered Russia and made a conflict with Ukraine much more likely.

               Mearsheimer, a dedicated realist, had been making a version of this argument for some time.

               In 2014, when Putin annexed Crimea and offered support to separatists in Eastern Ukraine, Mearsheimer said that it was predominantly the fault of Europe and the United States.

               This June, a couple of months after our first conversation, against the backdrop of a war dragging on with increasing brutality, Mearsheimer said in a speech, “The United States is principally responsible for causing the Ukraine crisis.”

Read more: John Mearsheimer on Putin’s Ambitions After Nine Months of War – The realist American political scientist explains why Russia’s move to annex four Ukrainian provinces isn’t imperialism, by Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker Magazine, 17 November 2022.

World War II Begins with Forgetting

December 07, 2022
Source: The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/opinion/america-world-war-iii.html

By Stephen Wertheim
Published December 2, 2022

Dear Abraham,

President Biden has warned that sending US forces into Ukraine would mean “World War III.” But how many Americans appreciate what such a conflict would entail? Just as the United States now faces the real and regular prospect of war with a major rival, the generation of Americans who experienced the Second World War is disappearing. Meanwhile, most citizens and leaders alive today are unused to enduring almost any hardship for foreign policy choices.

In a new article for the New York Times, I write that the United States must prepare by undertaking a national effort of historical recovery and imagination — first and foremost, to enable policymakers and the public to decide how far to go to risk calamity. With so much at stake, our leaders must raise public awareness to avoid bringing about the worst-case outcome.

Sincerely,

CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE


Stephen Wertheim
Senior Fellow
American Statecraft Program

Read more: New York Times Guest Essay, ‘World War II Begins with Forgetting,’ by Stephen Wertheim, New York Times, 2 December 2022

___________________________

An Anonymous Letter in My Inbox

The enormous loss dealt by Ukraine is not its own doing. The US has pulled Kyiv’s marionette strings and pushed it into the war. The consequences of the Ukraine war and sanctions have been felt across Europe. Its own petard has hoisted Europe.

Europe’s economy has gone for a toss. The Euro has fallen to the lowest against the dollar in a decade. Europe’s inflation has skyrocketed to the highest in the last three-four decades. The gas embargo has put millions of European jobs in jeopardy.

The political crises in Italy, North Macedonia, and Britain have highlighted the upcoming ‘European spring.’ Countries face the danger of their economy shrinking. Until now, Europe has been oblivious to its worries. Yet, on the horizon are signs of a recession.

Europe is on the verge of de-industrialization because of the excessive oil, gas, and power prices.

Editor’s Note | I spoke with a local snack bar operator yesterday. He told me that starting in January 2023, his monthly power bill will increase from €1,100.00 to €3,100.00. Unless he receives a monthly government subsidy, his days as a snack bar operator are numbered.

Related Articles Recently Posted on www.buildingthebridgefoundation.com:

Our Friday News Analysis | 'In Search of a Nation's Soul (Part 13),' 2 December 2022.

Our Wednesday News Analysis | 'How Palestine became a ‘forbidden word’ in German high schools,' 7 December 2022.

The Evangelical Pope| 'Turn to the Creator … Build a Civilization Born of Truth and Love,' 5 December 2022.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of the Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague.