Which Way to Peace in Ukraine?

A few days ago the Taoiseach has announced that he will attend the so-called «Peace Summit» on Ukraine to be held on June 15-16 in Burgenstock, Switzerland.

Why would Simon Harris do that? After all, it has been clear well in advance that this «summit» is bound to be just a hoax, meaningless propaganda exercise, which has nothing to do with a real search for an end of the conflict in Ukraine. The Taoiseach knows very well – at least should know – that the center of discussion in Switzerland will be Zelensky’s «peace formula» without Russia taking part (Russia purposefully was not invited, although it did not matter – we have never planned to participate in this exercise in absurdity). The «formula» itself is simply Zelensky’s wish list totally detached from reality and inherently unacceptable to Russia.

So, the Burgenstock meeting is a non-starter. Why go then? The reason is simple – the Irish Government feels obliged to follow the policy of the West, which does not give any real consideration to the political settlement of an extremely serious security and humanitarian crisis over Ukraine, but tries to cover it up with a «peace talk». It is a fact that the US and «like-minded» countries in Europe, Ireland among them, have consistently rejected proposals by Moscow to work on an agreement that would take care of vital security interests of Russia, Ukraine and entire Europe. The heart of the matter is that peace in Ukraine has never been part of a plan for US – they need conflict on the western border of Russia to go on for as long as it could be maintained as an instrument of weakening and «containment» of Russia. For that purpose Washington and its European allies (again, Ireland included) have been staffing Zelensky’s regime with weapons and military supplies, making sure that their proxy war against Russia goes on. Moreover, the US is willing to escalate this conflict to the regional and even global level, driven by mistaken belief that they will be able to sit it out overseas and leave it to Europeans to sort out the consequences.

There is indeed a need for a serious, genuine political and diplomatic effort on Ukraine, not the constant «smoke and mirror» game the Irish Government is engaged in together with their US and European partners. It is a clear view of the global majority, which is offering meaningful peace proposals, like the Chinese-Brazilian initiative that suggests international conference on Ukraine to beorganized in due time with equal participation of the sides of the conflict and honest discussion of all options for a peaceful settlement. That seems to be a good way forward.