LOS ANGELES. (OC).–Slovakia President Robert Fico, 61, told public broadcaster STR that the Ukraine war is not his war, recognizing the sacrifices made in WW II by the Soviet Union in the bloody battle of Dukla Pass with the Nazis causing heavy Soviet casualties to liberate Slovakia. Apart from the history, Fico is far more concerned about warmongering in Brussels where the mood has been one of battling the Kremlin over the Ukraine War. Since President Donald Trump saw the light no longer funding proxy-war with the Russian Federation, Fico wants the European Union to know that Slovakia does not support the EU’s belligerent position on Russia. Whatever the issues between Ukraine and Russia, Fico believes more time should be spent on peacemaking, not supplying Ukraine more cash-and-arms to battle the Kremlin. Fico wants Brussels to know he doesn’t back the current approach.
Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Petr Pavel, 63, supports Ukraine’s right to independence and territorial integrity but also doesn’t back Brussel’s aggressive position toward Moscow. He wants, like Fico, more effort to go into peacemaking, less into supplying Ukraine with more lethal weapons to battle the Kremlin. When it comes 62-year-old Hungarian President Viktor Orban, he wants Brussels to stop in backing of Ukraine and move the war to the peace table. Orban backs 100% President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring about peace in Ukraine. He doesn’t agree with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer that Russia must be confronted with economic sanctions and military might. Orban wants the EU to stop interfering with his trading relationship with the Russian Federation.
All the talk from Brussels involves recently confiscating Russian assets held in Belgium’s central bank, amounting to billions of euros, using Russian assets to subsidize the war. EU officials have mixed feelings about exploiting frozen Russian assets in terms of legality, but, more importantly, whether it would prolong the war, maybe draw Brussels into the fray. Belgium Prime Minister Bart De Wever fears disastrous consequences if Brussels arbitrarily takes Russian assets without proper legal authority. De Wever thinks it would take a dangerous precedent taking another country’s invested assets without proper legal authority. Macron, Merz and Starmer think there’s nothing wrong with under the circumstances to take Russian assets to pay for the Ukraine War. But if the EU thinks it’s necessary to continue the war, why wouldn’t they put their own skin in the game?
Fico reminds other EU members that there is no consensus about what to do with Russian assets but also whether to push Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky to the peace table to make the concessions to end the war. Brussels has taken the position that they must underwrite the Ukraine War because they don’t want to surrender any Ukrainian territory to the Russian Federation for peace. Poland and the Baltic States fear that if the EU makes concessions to Putin, he would be more inclined to seize European territory in the future. Putin has said he has no plans on starting a war with NATO or seizing any European territory. Putin wants the EU and NATO to stop encroaching on Russian territory by arming Ukraine with lethal weapons to attack the Russian Federation. Putin asked former President Joe Biden to discuss new security arrangements for Ukraine.
When Biden refused to address the flow of U.S. arms into Ukraine, Putin implemented his “special military operation” designed to disarm Ukraine from the flow of U.S. weapons. Biden didn’t understand that he would start a war by encroaching on Russian national security. When Putin ordered 200,000 Russian troops to cross the Ukrainian border Feb. 24, 2022, Biden said the war was “unprovoked and unjustified/” Well, to the Kremlin the war was provoked by the U.S. supplying Ukraine with unlimited arms. When it comes to ending the war, Zelensky and the EU have taken the position that there’s no negotiation or compromise with the Russian Federation. Putin has won some 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory over three-and-a-half years of war. So, when it comes to negotiating an end to the war, it only makes sense that Ukraine would have to compromise.
Fico wants the EU to know that war is hell, not something Brussels should be pushing for. “I don’t know whether these people are aware of what war really means. Perhaps someone should remind the public of the terrible suffering it caused back then,” Fico said. With the EU subsidizing the proxy war with Russia, they need to decide whether they want peace or perpetual war. Zelensky wants more cash-and-arms from the EU to continue his proxy war with the Russian Federation. Putin put out his conditions for ending the war, all of which were rejected by Zelensky and the EU. Trump was within 90% of a peace deal with Russia, dismissed by Zelensky and the EU as making concessions. Putin controls 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory after three-and-a-half years of war. Without compromises, Zelensky and the EU look at perpetual 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.
