By Janet Ekstract
İSTANBUL- Russia is currently holding all the cards and has laid its demands on the table. But isn’t it ironic that a country that had absolutely no compunction in invading its neighbor Ukraine, now gets to call the shots and hold the world hostage? Every nation is tiptoeing around Russia and no matter what statements are made, they fall flat in the face of brutal reality in Ukraine. The fact that CNN International recently reported at least 80,000 war crimes committed by Russian soldiers against Ukrainian citizens including rape and torture – seems to have fallen on the collective global ‘deaf ear.’
Meanwhile, as various world leaders attempt to involve themselves as ‘peacemaker extraordinaire’ – the more Russia gets to gloat because what has held the EU and the U.S. back from the obvious, is plain old-fashioned fear. Fear that Russia will escalate to a nuclear solution which a number of analysts have downplayed. As Russian officials continue their saber-rattling, time is running out. Even the recent news about leaked top secret conversations about UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s attitude toward Russia has to keep the public wondering. Though analysts have said that his situation is extremely delicate and he has to remain objective in the face of what is an obvious abuse of power by Russia, on all fronts.
That is quite understandable, nevertheless, for any just peace to occur, Russia must know that it cannot insist on keeping Crimea or other areas of Ukraine that it claims to have ‘liberated’ in its war of attrition, which is part of demands recently made by Russian officials in order for a peace deal to be made. Certainly, Ukraine’s President Zelensky could never agree to such a plan that would not only leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attacks by Russia – it would also demonstrate to the world that Ukraine was in agreement that Russia has a right to steal territory which does not rightfully belong to it.
As the war drags on, though sanctions have hurt Russia to a certain extent, Russia is still winning by still being allowed to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, by threatening not to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative whose extension helps feed half the world with grain exports from Ukraine. Russia is demanding that unless its exports go out, it will not renew the deal past May 18. Another way that Russia keeps holding the world, NATO and Western governments, hostage. Unless world leaders play ball with Russia, nothing can be accomplished that even smacks of a rudimentary peace.
It’s high time that the UN and world leaders gave Russia an ultimatum and that the International Criminal Court (ICC) make good on its arrest warrant for Putin for his alleged involvement in the abduction of teenagers and children. These are war crimes and by having Putin arrested and brought before the court, it demonstrates to the world that the ICC means business. What good is an arrest warrant or an indictment without the will to carry it out, without accountability! Is this still a case of wanting to deal with the enemy we know, not the one we don’t know? The West is on thin ice and they know it. While Russian officials peddle propaganda and outright lies, while Russian troops continue to perpetuate war crimes with the help of Russia’s Wagner Group, whose boss has admitted openly that his militias are involved – Ukrainians and Ukraine suffers.
The world suffers too because without the grain deal, worldwide starvation with skyrocketing inflation on grain prices, ends up the reality in a tawdry game of cat and mouse between Russia and the West.
Putin will not be moved without a drastic scenario which his opponents are capable of orchestrating if only they would take the iniative. As long as fear plays a major role in the West’s strategy and as long as Putin is allowed to hold the world hostage, any hope of authentic negotiations toward a lasting peace are simply dust in the wind. What world leaders need to do is back Russia into a corner it cannot get out of, which is much easier said than done.
