Macron's Shuttle Diplomacy
Emmanuel Macron, president of France, met with Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, for five hours of talks yesterday regarding the situation on the border of the Ukraine. According to Politico, while Putin held forth on his fanciful claims and demands (which helps explain, in part, perhaps, while Donald Trump was so cozy with Putin), the Politico reporting has it: “To all of this, Macron mustered virtually no response other than to insist that it was important to keep on talking.”
Macron traveled to Kyiv today to meet with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ah, yes.
Note: There are more than 100,000 Russian troops — and tanks and cannons and all manner of other military gear — on borders with the Ukraine, both in Russia and Belarus. They aren’t there for the sightseeing. Politico quotes Putin as saying during a news conference, “I want to underscore once again even though I have already mentioned it — I’d really love if you really hear me and bring this point to your audience, that if Ukraine is in NATO and if they decided to take back Crimea using military means, European countries will automatically be in a military conflict with Russia.” Has NATO announced anything like it is going to be taking back Crimea by military means?
While the whole situation may seem far away to many in the U.S., this, by Dr. Taras Kuzio, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London, published by Atlantic Council, is worth keeping in mind:
“At the heart of this crisis is one man’s refusal to accept the verdict of the Cold War and his burning resentment at modern Russia’s diminished standing on the global stage. Throughout his political career, Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his desire to revive Russia’s international prestige and address the perceived geopolitical injustices of the recent past. These imperial ambitions have found expression in Putin’s increasingly public obsession with Ukraine, a country whose very existence has come to embody the Russian ruler’s darkest fears and his many historical grievances.”
This is serious.
—Gary S. Vasilash
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