Rather East Slavic self-destruction, because the Ukrainians were manipulated and drawn into this useless war. Most importantly, the Ukrainians themselves voted for peace and understanding with Russia, that's why they voted for Selenskyj, this actor who pretended to be a peacemaker.
But as soon as he was voted for, and especially after the inauguration of Biden, he went amok, since the Selenskyj regime:
- started to bombard the Don separatists relentlessly, causing many civilian victims
- received huge amounts of weapons from America and prepared an attack on the Don separatists and was willing to attack Crimea even
- completely ignored the Minsk peace agreement
- started to outlaw all opposition parties, media and organisations which were in any way not for the war and probably more Russian-friendly
- censorship was installed on a grande scale
- Russian language should be pushed back in Ukraine, even the Russian orthodox church
- they cut off Crimea from the water supply
- Selenskyj spoke out for a Ukraine becoming a nuclear power
- Selenskyj made Ukraine becoming a NATO and EU member non-negotiable
- Selenskyj used all kinds of anti-Russian rhetoric in an aggressive fashion, making clear that he wants absolutely no compromise and wants to hurt the Russian regime as much as he can
- he even imprisoned a whole lot of prominent politicians to avoid any serious opposition and that way made clear that he wasn't interested in any sort of political solution with Russia.
etc.
When the parties were banned many many members were imprisoned after the start of the war, this was the end for any free political debate on the issue in Ukraine:
Zelenskiy says parties such as Viktor Medvedchuk’s Opposition Platform for Life are ‘aimed at division or collusion’
www.theguardian.com
It is important to note that the censorship started already before the war:
en.wikipedia.org
At the same time, when Russian brought the attacks on the Don separatists before the UN, they were blocked, and when asking the Americans for negotiations to prevent an escalation, the only message they got was: There is nothing to talk about, everything we do, anything the Selenskyj regime does is non-negotiable and you have to accept it.
Now after the inauguration of Biden and Selenskyj going for an escalation, it was absolutely clear that Russia had to do something, and this has zero to do with any kind of plans of Russia to attack the rest of Europe and crap like that, this was just a massive escalation in the Ukrainian theatre.
But as bad as it was, the Russians still agreed on a very, very generous peace agreement with the Ukrainians, the Istanbul agreement. This was at a time when there were only few casualties and destructions caused, compared to the status quo. The whole escalation into such a brutal and self-destructive war could have been prevented, but after the negotiations the Biden Americans, but especially the British caused yet another round of escalation:
- They told the Ukrainians that if they accept that agreement, they are largely on their own. A typical British maneuver to push an "ally" into an escalation: Either you go with us and make no deal, or you escalate and we will provide you with help to withstand.
That kind of blackmailing worked, if the Ukrainians were serious about the Istanbul agreement themselves in the first place. But in any case, the British and Americans pushed the Ukrainians into another round of escalations.
And that's where we are now, because of these events and decisions.
There are people in America and Britain which are happy about this, or were happy about it, since they had managed to make these two Eastern European people to mangle themselves.
But it got even worse, because when they recognised that Russia might come out as a big, even geostrategical winner, the whole game became even more serious for these Atlantic bridge gamers, and this is which really makes me concerned, because the worst thing which could happen is not whether Russia or Ukraine wins, but whether there is a global escalation in the direction of World War III.
And that is something which needs to be prevented, which inevitably means we need serious and honest negotiations. These are way more likely and possible with the Trump administration, than they would have been with Biden/Harris.
Therefore there is hope now, where there was just desperation before. And in the end, when all things are said and done, the Ukrainians, many of them, will see how they were deceived and lured into this trap. That it would have been best never to become confrontational with Russia, and at the very least, when they saw Russia became serious, to accept the Istanbul agreement and to end this horrible war before it became the mess they are in right now.
Every day more of this horrible war means just more victims on all sides and the Ukrainian prospects and ability to make an acceptable deal becoming worse. This war must end, that's it.
abcnews.go.com
