Forever keeping the doors open, 44-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron said today he thought peace was possible in Ukraine. For that to happen, Marcon knows he must convince 79-year-old President Joe Biden to stop his proxy war using Ukrainian troops to battle the Russian Federation. Macron has tried since before the Feb. 24 invasion to reason with 70-year-old President Vladimir Putin, only to find the war starting on Putin’s timetable. But of all the world leaders, Macron has worked tirelessly not to keep the war going but to find peace. For peace to happen, Macron would have to build a coalition within the EU to pressure Biden to given up his plan to topple Putin and vanquish the Russian army. Whatever the reasons for the Ukraine War, Macron reminds the world there are plenty of reasons to end it, there’s simply to much risk to the European Continent and world.
Macron needs to build a strong coalition of EU countries, including Germany, to tell Biden that the war has gone on too long, raising the stakes of escalation, even talking about nuclear war. “There is the prospect for peace, it will come around at some moment,” said Macron a peace conference in Rome. If you ask Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky, he’s not ready for peace, because U.S. taxpayers fund his bankrupt government and war with the Russian Federation. Taking over $60 billion from the U.S., there’s really no incentive for Kiev to go to the peace table. If Macron can put enough pressure on Biden, maybe he can get the U.S. president to tell Zelensky to wrap up the war. Zelensky wants to reclaim some of the sovereign territory lost to the Kremlin over the last eight months.
Macron thinks there’s been too much infrastructure destruction and carnage over the last eight months to justify continuing to fight. “And at a particular moment, given how things are evolving and when the Ukrainian people and its leaders wll have decided on the terms of this, a peace deal can be built up with the other side,” Marcorn said. With resistance to peace in Kiev and Washington, Macron has his work cut out finding the right coalition of peace partners in the EU to pressure Biden to change plans. Macron knows the war is run out of the White House, with the lion’s share of funding and lethal weapons. Macron would like to see Western diplomatic channels get behind a peace effort. Zelensky keeps complaining about Russia war crimes, especially Iranian-made drones and surface-to-air missiles, but refuses to open up a peace dialogue to end the carnage and destruction.
Moscow warned Ukraine that the conflict was heading to “uncontrolled escalation,” prompting Macron to seek a peace process. U.S. and Ukrainian officials continue to blame Putin for the war and all the destruction to Ukraine. When Zelensky accepted Biden’s offer to fight a proxy war against the Russian Federation, he made a choice that cost Ukraine greatly. Putin told Zelensky in March that he would end the conflict if Zelensky would cede Crimea and recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk. Zelensky decided with unlimited U.S. cash and weapons to take on the Russian Federation, losing over the last eight months 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. Macron is trying to tell Zelensky that he doesn’t have to put Ukraine through the ringer to get back at Putin. Macron wants to start a peace process to save Ukraine from destruction and carnage, not to decide who’s right or wrong.
Only a determined peace process with backing by key players in the EU can move the conflict off the battlefield to the peace table. Macron can’t do it on his own, he needs help from other EU members who can apply pressure on Biden to change directions before the war spins out of control. Biden and Zelensky are still of the mindset that they’re seeking to topple the Russian Federation and replace Putin. Zelensky said he wouldn’t start a peace process to end the war unless Putin was out of the picture. Where Zelensky gets the temerity to dictate whether a head of state leaves power is anyone’s guess. No doubt he’s been fed the illusion by Biden, who clearly has a vendetta with Putin dating back to the Syrian War. Putin intervened in 2015 to save Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after the Obama White House spent billions on Syrian rebel groups to topple the Syrian dictator.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said he had intel that Ukraine was developing a “dirty bomb” to use on Russian troops. U.S. and Ukrainians officials denied such a development. Shoigu spoke with Defense Minister Lloyd Austin and French Armed Forces Minister Sebastian Lecornu, about developments in Ukraine. No effort was made to follow up on Macron’s plan to seek other like-minded peacemakers in the EU to pressure Biden and Zelensky to end the conflict. Zelensky thinks with Russia in control of so much Ukrainian territory, Putin will not give back enough land to make the peace process worthwhile. Most foreign policy experts think that Zelensky will have to make concessions on Russian controlled territory. If Zelensky can get back everything but Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, he would have made a great bargain for Ukraine to get back to Square One after losing so much territory.
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.
