Dmitry Orlov

Here is a short comment on the latest Ukraine peace plan that Western media keeps going on and on about. This is going to be a very short comment, but, I hope, to the point.

Now, suppose that you had your own peace plan for the former Ukraine that you thought up yourself. And suppose that I also had such a peace plan that I crafted by the sweat of my brow. What do you suppose would be the big, huge, overwhelming similarity between these two plans that would overshadow all other possible similarities between them? That’s right, neither plan would make the least bit of difference. The right place for them would be the fireplace.

Why? Because our opinions on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict or our ideas for ending it don’t matter at all to either Russia or the former Ukraine

Now, suppose the White House or the European Union or even the Kremlin had peace plans of their own. Would these matter any more that our homespun plans that just went up the chimney in a puff of white smoke?

I would say that, no, they wouldn’t matter at all. Why? It’s very simple:

• The US did everything possible to cause this conflict — by organizing the Kiev putsch in 2014, by arming and otherwise supporting the Kiev regime against Russia and by pursuing the general strategy of dealing Russia a strategic defeat through the war in the former Ukraine and through sanctions. The US is the war party, not the peace party. Why should anyone listen to US officials on the subject of peace? If they wanted peace, they wouldn’t have gone to war (with the former Ukraine as a proxy).

• The European Union is preparing to go to war with Russia: rearming, increasing the size of their military and so forth. They are also not about peace — they are about war. Why would anyone sane listen to the war party on the subject of peace? I see no reason.

• Is Russia interested in peace in the former Ukraine? Eventually, yes, but concluding some sort of peace agreement prior to victory would be a defeat for Russia. The priorities for Russia are obvious: first victory, then peace. A decisive victory in the former Ukraine would discourage both the US and the EU/NATO from entertaining plans of any further armed conflict with Russia. On the other hand, if Russia were to accede to Western demands, they would see that as a sign of weakness.

This is not to say that there isn’t a peace plan for the former Ukraine, and that it isn’t being put into effect. That peace plan is being written on the ground by Russian soldiers, who are winning. There is no longer an organized, solid Ukrainian front or line of contact. There are only some pockets of resistance that the Russians are neutralizing. And once these pockets have been neutralized, to the west of them is the open steppe.

Russia’s objectives for the Special Military Operation have not changed one bit since it was announced on February 22, 2022. These are the only ones worth paying attention to. Everything else is just noise.

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Via https://boosty.to/cluborlov/posts/6d08642f-2cfc-4ffc-97f8-e082718585fa