LOS ANGELES.–Bogged down in the Israeli-Hamas War since Oct. 7, 2023, the world ignores gathering threats for world peace in Ukraine. Russia said today that if the U.K. continues to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles systems used to strike inside the Russian Federation, British military facilities would be considered fair game, according to Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy head of Russia’s Security Council. U.K.’s Moscow attaché was summoned to the Moscow embassy and told that if Ukraine uses U.K weapons to strike at targets inside the Russian Federation, Russia would respond by hitting British military facilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin gets inaugurated today in Moscow’s Red Square on Victory Day, the day Russian forces defeated Adolf Hitler in Berlin May 6. 1945. Putin wanted to serve notice to the U.K. that escalating the war to strike with U.K. weapons at Russian targets is unacceptable.
Recent statements by 43-year-old British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and 46-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron suggest at escalating the Ukraine War. Macron said there are certain conditions where France would supply troops to Kiev to go to war against the Kremlin, prompting a stern response from Putin. Putin announced that Russia would conduct drills using battlefield nuclear weapons, upping the threat risk for the Ukraine conflict. Putin has said in the past that if the Ukraine War crosses into the Russian Federation with the use of medium and long-range weapons, then Russia would respond in kind. Macron’s recent statements about inserting French troops into the Ukraine battlefield would cross a dangerous Rubicon, prompting an aggressive response from Moscow. European Union and NATO have grown more aggressive with Russia.
Grabbing all the recent headlines, the Israel-Hamas War has eclipsed the Ukraine conflict, despite the fact that Israel’s military operation in Gaza was removed from any regional conflict, except if Iran gets involved. Recent skirmishes with Iran show that 74-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran’s 84-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khaemenei aren’t serious about escalating any regional Mideast conflict. Netanyahu and Ayatollah have been saber-rattling but not much more, backing off from escalation. Apart from feckless demonstrations by Hamas-sympathetic charities in the U.S. on college campuses, the Israeli-Hamas War has entered into its final phase with Israel. Hamas hoped with pro-Palestine protests around the U.S. they could stop Israel from its final phase in Rafah looking to topple the Hamas government.
Concerns over Ukraine escalated April 20 when a new $60 billion Ukraine War funding bill was approved, giving the Kiev government the necessary resources to continue the conflict into the indefinite future. Running for reelection, 81-year-old President Joe Biden has said that if given four more years he would continue the war until he defeats the Kremlin, driving all Russian forces out of Ukraine. No military expert in the U.S. or European Union believes that Ukraine can defeat the Russian Federation in Ukraine, prompting Italy’s 60-year-old Foreign Minister Guido Crosetto to call for truce and peace talks, recognizing the risks of escalation to all of the EU, especially with Macron’s recent remarks about sending troops to Ukraine. During the early phases of the Ukraine War, Macron pushed for ceasefire and peace talks but suddenly took a turn toward escalating the conflict.
Putin told 54-year-old former Fox New Journalist Tucker Carlson Feb. 8 that he had no intention of escalating the Ukraine War to other EU countries, including former Soviet satellites. Yet over the last few months, Biden, Ukraine’s 46-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky have talked once again of driving Russian forces from Ukraine. Zelensky has received numerous peace plans, including China, Brazil and South Africa, all calling for negotiation and compromise to end the conflict. Zelensky insists that Putin must be prosecuted for war crimes in The Hague’s International Criminal Court, remove all troops from Ukraine and pay war reparations to Ukraine, something obviously a non-starter for peace talks. Crosetto sees U.K. and France getting more belligerent, threatening to escalate the conflict by supplying more lethal weapons and potentially committing troops.
Whatever happens in Gaza is of no concern to recent developments in Ukraine, where Sunak and Macron showed a tougher stance on Moscow. Sunak and Macron have bought into the Biden and Zelensky narrative that if Russia wins the Ukraine War, it will push Putin to conquer other EU countries, something that concerns Poland and the Baltic States. But at some point the U.S. and EU must take Putin at his word that he wants to resolve the Ukraine conflict and has no intent of moving onto other EU countries. Sunak and Macron have escalated tensions over sending Zelensky more long-range weapons with which to strike deep inside Russia. When Macron talks of sending French troops to Ukraine it only makes things worse. Inaugurated for his fifth six-year term, Putin needs to hear from Biden, Sunak and Macron, that the Western Alliance wants to make peace, not more war.
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.
