Traveling to St. Petersburgh to make peace, an African delegation led by 70-year-old South African President Cyril Ramaphosa asked 70-year-old President Vladimir Putin to end the war. Ramaphos’s African delegation, including Egypt, Senegal, Congo-Brassaville, Comoros, Zambia and Uganda all asked for peace, though Zambia and Comoros lead closer to Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Voldymyr Zelensky demanding that before peace talks can begin Putin needs to pull out all his troops from Ukraine. Zelensky’s position is shared by 80-year-old President Joe Biden, a joint partner with Kiev in the war against the Kremlin. African countries largely agree with Putin that the Ukraine was is a conflict between the West and the Russian Federation, with Biden and Zelensky seeking to topple Putin’s government. Ukraine’s war has crippled grain and fertilizer to Africa’s 1.3 billion population.
Ramaphosa wants peace largely because it disrupts supply lines of grain to the African continent, creating unnecessary food insecurity and famine. Ramaphosa, like other European and Asian leaders, have had no success with Zelensky, convincing him that the ongoing war obstructs grain shipments to the African Continent. As long at the U.S. pays for Ukraine’s bankrupt government and the war, there’s no incentive for Zelensky to settle the conflict. Zelensky has lied to the Ukrainian public about the land lost to Russia in the last 16 months war. Ukraine’s anticipated counteroffensive has been underway for months, yielding very little progress. Putin controls some 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, all because Zelensky refused to negotiate an end to the conflict in March 2022. Zelensky demanded to engage in peace talks that Russia vacate very inch of Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
Zelensky plays catch up at the expense of the Ukrainian people, routinely watching their infrastructure destroyed. Putin controls some 25% of Ukraine’s most strategic territory along the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. So for Zelensky to save face, hoping he’s not ousted by a coup, he must show progress toward his stated goal of ousting Russian troops. Zelensky knows Putin’s forces are so dug in by this time, they’re not likely to go anywhere. Zelensky, in making his demands for Putin to get out, doesn’t admit that Putin’s forces have been in Ukraine since 2014 when he invaded Crimea. Putin responded to a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed, pro-Western coup that toppled the Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych. Putin would not have seized Crimea March 1, 2014 if the CIA had not destabilized the government, driving Yankovych out of Kiev, leaving Putin’s Sevastopol naval base threatened.
Ramaphosa’s African delegation joins Brazilian President Luis Lula Da Silva and Chinese President Xi Jinping, all made peace overtures to Zelensky, and all were rejected. Zelensky and Biden reject all peace proposals that don’t demand that all Russian forces leave Ukraine. Zelensky won’t admit that Donetsk and Luhansk want no part of the Kiev government, seeking to join the Russian Federation. Zelensky pretends that Russia was not in Ukraine prior to the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion. Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk want independence from Kiev. Zelensky has used U.S. government largess to fund his war, designed with the U.S., to topple Putin’s Kremlin government. Pleading with Putin and Zelensky, Ramaphosa wants Ukrainian and Russian grain and fertilizer shipments to resume. Kremlin’s concessions on grain shipments haven’t worked well under the conflict.
No peacemakers at the U.N. or European Union have pressured Biden to end the 16-month-old conflict, now spreading hunger in Africa. “The war cannot go on forever. All wars have to settled and come to an end at some stage,” Ramaphosa said. “And we are here to communicate a very clear message that we would like this war to be ended,” Ramaphosa said, not seeing any effort from Kiev and Washington to end the conflict. Putin said he’s more than willing to end the conflict, just not on Ukraine’s terms. Zelensky sets unrealistic conditions expecting Putn to unilaterally surrender. Zelensky’s in no position to dictate the terms of peace talks, hoping with more fighting to weaken the Russian military to the point it can no longer wage war. Whatever Zelensky wants, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Biden and EU’s Ursula von der Leyen must tell Zelensky it’s time to end the conflict.
Putin sees the Ukraine War as an attempt by Biden to vanquish the Russian government. Putin sees the conflict as one between Russia and the United States, fighting more fiercely on the battlefield. Biden and Zelensky see the Ukraine conflict as a way to eventually topple Putin. No one in the EU or NATO sees the conflict as toppling the Russian Federation. After losing in the first 16 months some 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, Zelensky can’t dictate the terms of Russia’s surrender. Kiev and Washington keep saying the Russian military is near collapse, hoping war propaganda demoralizes Putin enough to pull out. Putin wasn’t born yesterday and has no intent to lett Kiev or Washington beat him on the battlefield. Zelensky doesn’t want to face the harsh reality of losing sovereign Ukrainie’s sovereign territory but that’s exactly what he’s done the last 16 months.
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.
