Telling the U.S. and the NATO alliance that they will not break the Russian Federation, 73-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the strategy of degrading the Russian military has failed and won’t end the Ukraine War. Since the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion, 80-year-old President Joe Biden told world March 26, 2022 that 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin should not remain Russian president. State Department officials were frantic about Biden’s gaffe, insisting that the U.S. had no intent of toppling the Russian leader. Then, speaking April 26, 2022, 70-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a crowd in Ramstein, Germany that the aim of the Ukraine War was to degrade the Russian military to the point it could no longer wage war. Lavrov confirmed that the collective West, including the U.S. and NATO, would not succeed in their goal to break the Kremlin.
NATO members meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania July 11, 12, can’t find consensus over the purpose of the Ukraine War, resisting attempts by Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Voldymyr Zelensky to secure NATO membership or an eventual invitation to join the trans-Atlantic alliance. Zelensky, who’s due to speak the meeting today, told NATO foreign minister that the alliance was “weak,” refusing to fast-track Ukraine’s membership, insisting that failure to admit his war-battered country was in no position to defend European democracy. Zelensky has told the U.S. and EU that Ukraine sacrifices its blood and treasure to defend European democracy. No one in NATO, responsible to European Security, believes Zelensky’s rubbish, despite tolerating his presence at the current summit. “U.S.-led collective West” is trying to complete its hegemony over Russia,” Lavrov told the Kompass newspaper.
Lavrov was questioned why Russia involvement in the Ukraine War hasn’t ended. “Why doesn’t the armed confrontation in Ukraine come to an end?” The answer is very simple—it will continue until the West give up its plans to preserve its domination and overcome its obsessive desire to inflict on Russia a strategic defeat at the hands of Kiev puppets,” Lavrov told the Kompass newspaper. Whether admitted to or not, Zelensky has no resources on his own to battle the Kremlin for what he calls Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Kiev’s central government is bankrupt, requiring 100% cash support from the U.S. and NATO. So, when Zelensky says he won’t negotiate a settlement to the war until every Russian solider is out of Ukraine, it’s completely unrealistic and self-destructive. Russia had troops in Ukraine before the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion and will have them there after the war ends.
Zelsensky’s insistence of joining NATO stems from his desire to keep up the fight with the Kremlin, involving U.S. and NATO troops. Zelensky asked the U.S. and NATO to supply troops and a no-fly zone shortly after the war began, to be told no by because it could start WW III. Zelensky has asked from the beginning more U.S. and NATO involvement in defending Ukraine, all because Zelensky refuses to compromise with Putin on a settlement. Now that the war has decimated Ukrane over the last 17 months, you’d think someone in the U.S., U.N., EU or NATO would suggest peace talks to resolve the conflict. Every time peace is suggested, Zelensky tells the press that all peace proposals favor the Kremlin. How long can the U.S. and NATO continue to supply cash-and-arms to fight the Kremlin? Lavrov made it clear that the Kremlin will not back down from its war with the West.
Russia’s European partners, including Germany, engaged in long-standing energy purchases from the Russia until Biden imposed his Russian oil embargo as a way to stop the Russian invasion. Biden’s oil embargo backfired with China and India more than making up for the loss of European oil revenue. Putin tried for months before the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion to negotiate a new security arrangement for Ukraine, other than watching the U.S. and NATO supply Kiev with advance weapons systems. Lavrov reminds the West that the Kremlin won’t tolerate bullying by the West, attempting degrade the Russian military. Zelensky has accomplished little for Ukraine in terms of getting back lost sovereign territory. Instead of inflicting more damage on Ukraine, diplomacy offers the best path to end the current stalemate that promises to drain the U.S. and NATO military.
Zelensky rejected Indonesia’s recent peace plan suggesting that demilitarized zone in Donbas protects the rights of Russian speakers in Donetsk and Luhansk where Russian troops protected residents from the Kiev government. Lavrov made clear that despite Ukraine’s efforts to battle the Kremlin, the Russian military would not stop its “special military operation” until the collective West stopped its war against the Russian Federation. Zelensky pleads in Vilnius for NATO membership to join the war against the Russian Federation. All the peace proposals to end the conflict, including from France, China, South Africa, Brazil and now Indonesia all have one thing in common, both sides must compromise for peace. Zelensky has shown no signs of compromising despite expecting the U.S. and NATO to pay for his war. U.S., EU, U.N. and NATO officials must tell Zelensky to stop..
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
