President Biden Blinked First and Turned into Chamberlain

Ukrainians around the world – and probably peoples of the former captive nations – were hoping against hope that President Biden would demonstrate strength, conviction and loyalty in defending Ukraine against Russian terrorism and invasion.

That was not to be. Biden on December 7 came virtually eye to eye with Moscow’s führer Putin and the American commander in chief blinked first. Munich 1938 repeated itself in December 2021 with the White House favorably listening to the possibility to appeasing Moscow.

According to the Associated Press and other media, Washington has been caught supporting the idea of perhaps arm twisting Kyiv into ceding Ukrainian land to Russia to quench its aggressive appetite for re-subjugating Ukraine. This has been the goal of Moscow for the past 1,000 years though the Ukrainian nation has bravely fought off Russia’s armies and solidified independence for three decades only to raise again its armed forces to defend against Russian invaders.

“Administration officials have suggested that the US will press Ukraine to formally cede a measure of autonomy to eastern Ukrainian lands now controlled by Russia-backed separatists who rose up against Kyiv in 2014. An undefined ‘special status’ for those areas was laid out in an ambiguous, European-brokered peace deal in 2015, but it has never taken hold,” reported the Associated Press and other news outlets today.

With that kind of offer on the table, Moscow doesn’t have to demand anything. Its position now will be to let the Americans trip over themselves as they expand on this suggestion or walk it back.

Some analysts revealed that for Biden the challenge will be to encourage Kyiv to accept some of the facts on the ground in eastern Ukraine, without appearing to cave to Putin — a perception that could embolden the Russian leader and unleash a fresh line of condemnations by Republicans as Biden’s popularity is already in decline. Truthfully, the cat is out of the bag with this disclosure. Even Steven Pifer, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, suggested that Ukraine may be asked to make some step forward on topics such as allowing the Russian-occupied Donbas to control its own health care, police and schools, he said.

Biden has offered US participation in negotiations alongside Europeans, not just to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine but to address Putin’s larger strategic objections to NATO expanding membership and building military capacity ever closer to Russia's borders. These meetings would reportedly address the future of Russia’s concern relative to NATO expansion, “and whether or not we could work out any accommodations as it relates to bringing down the temperature in Ukraine’s east,” Biden said.

That premise is wholly wrong and perfidious. It places the onus on Ukraine for mollifying Russian demands. No special status, no more discussions. Negotiations have resulted in nothing except wasting time and effort which contributed to civilian and military deaths and infrastructure destruction. And Ukraine is the victim, not the perpetrator. Ukraine was violated by Moscow and its people have been killed, maimed and imprisoned by Russian soldiers and terrorists. That’s like asking a rape victim to participate in a compromise with the rapist.

Everything that is being discussed today, every idea and word, conjures up a distasteful compromise that no sovereign nation can be asked to accept. The only point worthy of talks is when are the Russian armies, tanks and artillery packing up and evacuating back to their Moskovy. If Washington doesn’t endorse than issue 100%, then it is not worthy of being a friend, ally or strategic partner of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Moscow is still threatening Ukraine with swift and bloody reprisals if its armed forces attempt to re-capture and liberate Donbas, surely a righteous mission of all subjugated nations. Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, called media reports about Russia allegedly preparing an attack on Ukraine “a lie” and charged that Ukraine is to blame for escalating tensions in war-torn Donbas, by deploying new weapons there. He warned Kyiv against using force in the area. “Any provocations by Ukrainian authorities to settle the Donbas problems with force will be suppressed,” he said.

Ukraine’s last great hope is the US House of Representatives, which approved on December 7 the 2022 annual defense spending bill that includes $300 million in aid for Ukraine. As part of the bill, the Ukrainian armed forces would receive $300 million in 2022 under the Security Assistance Initiative. This includes $75 million for lethal weapons. The package is $50 million greater than Biden had requested earlier. 

The only consolation the White House could offer Ukraine, whose President Zelenskyy still believes in America’s undying support for his country’s independence and sovereignty, is Biden continuing to warn Putin that Moscow would face “economic consequences like none he’s ever seen” if it invaded Ukraine and that an attack would prompt the US to reinforce a presence in NATO countries and provide support to Ukraine. However, nothing more. Asked if he would rule out troops on the ground in Ukraine, Biden said that is “not on the table.”

“We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies if they were to attack under Article 5, it’s a sacred obligation,” Biden was quoted as saying. “That obligation does not extend to NATO – I mean to Ukraine. But it would depend upon what rest of the NATO countries were willing to do as well. But the idea that the United States is going to unilaterally use force to confront Russia invading Ukraine is not on, in the cards right now. What will happen is there will be severe consequences.”

Those unspecified consequences never have and never will faze Putin.

The White House and President Biden must appreciate that being a friend, ally and strategic partner of Ukraine, which has fought for everything that it has achieved as it borders its greatest enemy Russia mean more than just mere words. The 1,000-year-old aspiration of a civilized people to become independent and then preserve it in the face of numerous enemies over many centuries cannot be demeaned and quelled even by purported allies’ betrayal. There will be a great deal of blood as Ukraine continues to fight against Russian aggression. Ukraine’s divine right to its existence, independence and sovereignty cannot by violated by friends’ disloyalty or enemies’ invasions.

The free world should take to heart the words of Anne O’Hare McCormick, an English-American journalist, New York Times correspondent and Pulitzer Prize winner, who wrote a long time ago: “But the responsibility of the United States is the greatest of all, for the nations trust her to make a good peace.”

Indeed, the remnants of that belief still remain in the post-Afghanistan era. And among those who naively or not still trust America are 45 million Ukrainians in their native, besieged Ukraine and about 25 million Ukrainians abroad.

President Biden, shed Chamberlain’s waistcoat and be a mensch!

Moscow Turns back Calendar to 1938

It’s looking like 1938 again in Europe.

Then Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany were threatening the world with invasion, war, repression and captivity, Germany was quickly remilitarizing, and neighboring countries were targeted for invasion and occupation under the guise of protecting ethnic Germans.

The fainthearted free world, led by Neville Chamberlain, Britain’s prime minister, met with Herr Fuhrer and heard his proposal of turning over the Sudeten in Czechoslovakia to the Nazis in exchange for his turning off the German war machine and peace in Europe.

Believing Hitler and excited by his negotiating skills, Chamberlain returned home and declared: “My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time.”

Twelve months later Hitler launched his war, which claimed as its first casualty Poland.

Today Moscow is following in the Nazis goosesteps and threatening not only its neighbors but also distant countries. It is rattling its nuclear-tipped sabers. It has invaded Ukraine and occupied the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea and Donbas in the east. The fearful free world, led by the United States, is warning the Kremlin and threatening severe retributions if it escalates the war.

The latest intelligence estimates report that there are some 175,000 Russian troops as well as attendant artillery and armor on Ukraine’s border, poised to make a multi-pronged invasion of Ukraine. Fortunately, contemporary surveillance technology spotted them before it was too late compared with 1968 when no one saw a quarter of a million Warsaw Pact troops until they stormed into Czechoslovakia to destroy the national Prague Spring movement.

Who can blame Ukrainians for fearing and even expecting an escalation of Russia’s nearly eight-year war against them? Moscow did it before and is bound to do it again. Its aggression and belligerence have been predicted by the leaders of the captive nations’ independence movements since World War Two. No one listened.

A U.S. intelligence report and the Ukrainian defense minister warned of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine as soon as next month. According to the German newspaper Bild, citing its sources among high-ranking military officials, Putin is preparing to seize two-thirds of Ukraine’s territory in early next year.

According to Bild’s sources, Russia’s “plan maximum” for the war against Ukraine “lies in Putin’s drawer, and he has not yet decided whether it will be carried out.” Nonetheless, according to Bild, the buildup of Russian troops, which started in April, indicates that the Kremlin seems to be inclined to go ahead with the attack on Ukraine.

One military official told Bild that in January-February, when Putin is expected to give an order, which matches the season when Russian invaded and occupied Crimea almost eight years ago, the Russian military will “simultaneously attack from northern Crimea, through the occupied territories in the east and from the north.” However, other NATO insiders are confident that the attack could happen in three independent stages and that could certainly signal the end of independent Ukraine for at least this generation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week met face-to-face with his Russian counterpart to demand Russia pull back troops from the border with Ukraine. The United States and other western countries, as well as global organizations, fearing that Moscow could invade Ukraine, have threatened it with the toughest sanctions yet if it launches an attack. Indeed, they have added a range of superlative adjectives to the sanctions and other retributions that they’re proposing.

Worries that Russia would invade Ukraine or seek to undermine the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have dominated Blinken’s travels last week to meet with European allies.

Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had met on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Stockholm, Sweden. “The United States and our allies and partners are deeply concerned by evidence that Russia has made plans for significant aggressive moves against Ukraine, including efforts to destabilize Ukraine from within and large-scale military operations,” Blinken told reporters.

On Friday, Moscow finally revealed its demand. No NATO aspirations for Ukraine. That’s the red line. Kyiv can’t cross it or else. Putin will seek binding guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine during a planned but not yet announced call with President Biden.

Biden has said his Administration was “putting together what I believe to be the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Mr. Putin to go ahead and do what people are worried he may do” in positioning troops near Ukraine.

The NATO chief and numerous former U.S. diplomats and security officials say Russia’s demand that Biden rule out NATO membership for Ukraine, a former Soviet republic eager to ally with the West, is a nonstarter.

“There’s absolutely no way in the world that that Russian position will make any progress,” John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, optimistically said Friday. “It’s basically a rhetorical point for Moscow.” More likely, he said, were U.S. assurances that Western military assistance to Ukraine be for defensive purposes only.

Biden, Blinken and others have pledged to make it “very, very difficult” for Moscow to take military action in Ukraine as U.S. intelligence officials determined that Russian planning is underway for a possible military offensive. Blinken warned of unspecified “serious consequences” if Moscow decided to pursue confrontation.

“We don't know President Putin’s intent. We don’t know if he’s made a decision to take renewed, aggressive action against Ukraine, but what we do know is that he's putting in place the capacity to do so and to do so on short, on short notice,” Blinken told Euronews after his meeting, adding that concern was widespread among European partners.

“What’s most important for Russia to understand is that actions have consequences. Those consequences are real. They’re not in Russia’s interests, and having a conflict is in no one’s interest,” he noted.

Word has it that in addition to ministerial meetings, President Biden may personally meet with Putin.

It’s not encouraging that Blinken had said the United States doesn’t know what’s on Putin’s mind but hopefully this diplomatic jousting will force Moscow to believe the threats and stand down.

The x-captive nations of Poland and Lithuania have come to Ukraine’s support by insisting on new sanctions against Russia in response to its aggressive ambitions, according to Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Polish and Lithuanian leaders confirmed support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in a common declaration, published on the 30th anniversary of their recognition of Ukraine’s independence. The three presidents referred to the decision as “an important milestone on the way to a full-fledged reunification of Europe.” Duda, Nausėda and Zelenskyy, who met at the virtual Lublin Triangle summit, assured each other of their mutual support and solidarity in the face of the migration crisis, orchestrated by Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko.

Duda and Nausėda also “called upon the international community to step up sanctions on the Russian Federation over its ongoing aggression against Ukraine” and “urged the Kremlin to deescalate the situation by withdrawing its troops from the Ukrainian borders and temporarily occupied territories.”

This expression of support among x-captive nations against Russian aggression and demonstration of multilateral solidarity is vital to force Moscow to recall its armed forces from its border with Ukraine and to show the world that if it doesn’t come to Ukraine’s defense – and Moscow’s other former colonies – they will do so themselves. The x-captive nations unquestionably know what it means to be in Moscow’s prison of nations. And the Lublin Triangle, which is a military and political alliance of the x-captive nations, is exactly such a distinct alternative.

Consequently, the world has returned back to the future. The battle lines have been drawn. Washington and the Biden Administration are honor bound not to agree to any of Moscow’s demands and thereby betray Ukraine and the other former subjugated nations. Surrendering to Moscow now would give Russia the free hand it wants to reorganize the world in its own image. The only way to save peace in our time is to subdue Russia and vanquish its aggressive intentions – even if that means boots on the ground.

No Munich Appeasement 2021!

As Ukrainians Mark Holodomor Murders, So Does President Biden

As the global Ukrainian community together with its international friends are paying tribute this month to the 7 million Ukrainian men, women and children who were mercilessly starved to death by Moscow, they were joined by President Biden with his feeble commemorative remarks.

In 1932-33, the Russian junta led by Joseph Stalin deliberately decided to further their diabolical mission of annihilating the Ukrainian nation by forcibly starving to death 7 million people. They sent their punitive units to Ukraine to confiscate anything that could be converted into sustenance such as wheat – the people’s natural and ubiquitous crop. Reports from Ukraine also attested to the seizure of livestock. The armed guards didn’t overlook a single green leaf on the trees. If Ukrainians didn’t submit to the orders, they faced summary execution.

“Each November we solemnly honor and pay tribute to the millions of innocent Ukrainians who suffered and perished during the Holodomor –‘death by hunger’ – in 1932 and 1933,” the President wrote. 

It’s a shame that President Biden decided not to cite the universally accepted figure of 7 million victims of that historical Russian crime against humanity. It wasn’t an agricultural accident or a meteorological aberration. This was a conscious plan to deprive men, women and children of food until they bloated and died. The President’s statement seemed as if he wanted to say something to soothe Ukrainians’ grief while not upsetting the Kremlin.

Recently, I came across a similar discussion among Jews, who encountered disagreement with the figure of 6 million Holocaust victims.

In the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, I read the following: “After reading hundreds of books and articles about the Holocaust, and even perusing many documents that have never been published as part of his work as the director of the Elie Wiesel Archive at Boston University, Rappel (a Jewish archivist – ID) realized that despite the research controversy regarding the precise number of victims, ‘in our consciousness the number remains 6 million.’ …

“About 15 years later, during Eichmann’s trial, chief prosecutor Gideon Hausner said that ‘In the consciousness of the nation the number 6 million has become sanctified.’ But he added: ‘It’s not so simple to prove that. We did not use this number in any official document, but it became sanctified.’ Now, thanks to Rappel, historical research had added another layer for understanding the context for the number.”

Indeed the number of Holocaust victims became “sanctified” in Jewish and everyone’s minds. Regardless of what was, is or will be said, that’s the number of killed Jews. Question it and you become an evil denier. We, Ukrainians, should insist on the same kind of regard for the victims of the Holodomor. We should not allow Presidents, researchers and others to discount the number of dead to mere millions. We grew up with the figure of 7 million Ukrainian men, women and children starved to death by Russia in 1932-33 just for being Ukrainian. That figure of 7 million must be sanctified in our and everyone’s minds. Deny the number of victims and you deny the Holodomor.

I won’t disparage President Biden’s decision to blame Stalin’s regime for the murders rather than Russia as the embodiment of the nation’s hatred for Ukrainians. Assigning culpability to the man is easy because everyone has done that. Assigning guilt to a national mentality requires knowledge and understanding that the evil mission has existed for a millennia.

The President also pointed out that “The Ukrainian people overcame the horror of the Holodomor, demonstrating their spirit and resilience, and eventually creating a free and democratic society.” None of which, Mr. President, occurred without numerous wars of liberation against Moscow and other foreign invaders, miles of barbed wire fences and rivers of blood.

“As we remember the pain and the victims of the Holodomor, the United States also reaffirms our commitment to the people of Ukraine today and our unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” he concluded.

As Russia continues its nearly eight-year war against Ukraine, which in reality is the continuation of all of its acts of aggression over the centuries, Ukrainians everywhere are grateful for America’s “unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

Ukraine Seeks Justice for Russian War Crimes & Crimes against Humanity

Citing an International Criminal Court report that confirms the existence of sufficient evidence that Russia has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in its nearly eight-year war in Ukraine, Kyiv is pressing for a full investigation into Moscow’s violations of international law.

“The Prosecutor’s report clearly states that there are sufficient grounds to believe that the crimes committed in both Crimea and Donbas fall within the Court’s jurisdiction. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity. Among them is a significant number of crimes against civilians.” Yuriy Vitrenko of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine said this week in the United Nations.

In 2014, Russia seized and illegally occupied the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and two eastern oblasts of Luhansk and Donetsk, ultimately renaming the latter two as the Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics. Human rights violations have been committed by Russia and its foreign mercenaries in all three regions and have been condemned by the United Nations and other international organizations. In Crimea, Russia has forbidden Crimean Tatars from fostering their ancestral culture and religion and have suffered death and arrests for violating Moscow’s draconian laws. More than 14,000 people have been killed during the war that has resulted in more than 1 million refugees.

For example, in February to July of this year, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found: “The number of ceasefire violations in the conflict zone considerably increased compared with the preceding six months, resulting in increased civilian casualties and damage to civilian objects. OHCHR documented 62 civilian casualties occurring in the reporting period, a total of 15 people killed (11 men, three boys and one girl), and 47 injured (30 men, 13 women, three boys and one girl), representing a 51 percent increase compared with the preceding six months. Thirteen civilian casualties resulted from active hostilities, two while 47 resulted from mine-related incidents3 and handling of explosive remnants of war. In addition, one man was also killed in a security incident and one woman was beaten by a soldier. Residents in the conflict zone complained about psychological distress due to the resumption of hostilities after a prolonged period of relative silence. The availability of weapons also resulted in grave incidents of domestic violence affecting women and children.

Vitrenko said in his address that Ukraine has met the criteria to have such an investigation opened and is “seeking judicial authorization to open such an investigation.”

Vitrenko pointed out that the declarations regarding these crimes have been made for an indefinite duration and “the ICC will be able to exercise its jurisdiction over such crimes regardless of the nationality of persons who have committed them, even if they were citizens of the third states.”

According to Vitrenko, “Ukrainian law enforcement agencies in cooperation with civil society organizations and human rights defenders continued to document and provide the Court with additional information, facts and evidences related both to the nature of existing armed conflict in Ukraine as international armed conflict caused by a foreign armed aggression as well as to numerous war crimes committed by the aggressor-state armed forces, its occupation authorities, its personnel and proxies in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.”

He concluded, “The demand of the people of Ukraine for justice, prosecution and holding to account all perpetrators of grave crimes committed in Ukraine remains unwavering, just as Ukraine’s government support of the work of the ICC.”

USA and Ukraine Sign Charter on Strategic Partnership

Following up on the Ukraine-U.S. strategic partnership inked by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Joe Biden on September 1, 2021, the heads of both countries’ foreign affairs departments this week enhanced that document with a Charter on Strategic Partnership that augments the previous manuscript while eliminating – or watering down – certain vital concepts.

While the earlier text was touted by both presidents as a U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Partnership, this one was given the official mandate to be designated as such and affirmed the commitments made to strengthen it.

The earlier statement, which covered many aspects of their bilateral relations, was signed on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence and emphasized that 30 years after restoring its independence, “the bonds between the United States and Ukraine are stronger than ever.”

This document, signed on November 10 by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, was intended to reaffirm “the importance of our relationship as friends and strategic partners, based both on our shared values and common interests, including a commitment to a Europe that is whole, free, democratic, and at peace. Reiterate that the strategic partnership existing between our two nations is critical for the security of Ukraine and Europe as a whole.”

It also repeated both countries’ “unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, including Crimea and extending to its territorial waters in the face of ongoing Russian aggression, which threatens regional peace and stability and undermines the global rules-based order.”

Whether Kyiv’s enemies and other detractors of Ukraine’s accession to NATO want to admit, these words do passively at least confirm that if Ukraine’s independence is threatened more than it already is, Washington would be honor bound to resolutely defend Ukraine’s existence. The 90,000 fresh Russian troops and accompanying armor on Ukraine’s border certainly fall into the category of escalated danger. This danger not only threatens Ukraine but also the former captive nations of Russian subjugation and all of Europe.

The presidential document had underscored the point of Ukraine’s renewed independence while this one matter-of-factly accepted that Ukraine is a valuable independent, sovereign country that can contribute to the improvement of life in the region.

Both presidents had specifically pointed out that Ukraine is at war to safeguard its existence while this document notes that Ukraine is engaged in “direct and hybrid aggression” at the hands of Russia, which must be held accountable for including the seizing and attempting to annex Crimea and the Russia-led armed conflict in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, as well as its continuing malign behavior. Moscow must also be held responsible for human rights violations on the territories occupied by its soldiers and mercenaries, the agreement states.

“Ukraine and the United States share a vital national interest in a strong, independent, and democratic Ukraine. Bolstering Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against threats to its territorial integrity and deepening Ukraine’s integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions are concurrent priorities,” the current document asserts.

Anticipating future lawbreaking by Moscow, the United States pledged “to support Ukraine’s efforts to counter armed aggression, economic and energy disruptions, and malicious cyber activity by Russia, including by maintaining sanctions against or related to Russia and applying other relevant measures until restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.”

Additionally, the document declares that the “United States does not and will never recognize Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and reaffirms its full support for international efforts, including in the Normandy Format, aimed at negotiating a diplomatic resolution to the Russia-led armed conflict in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine on the basis of respect for international law, including the UN Charter.”

As did the previous text, this one also iterated that the foundation of both countries’ relations are “universal values that unite the free people of the world: respect for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Strengthening the rule of law, promoting reform of the legal system and of law enforcement structures, and combating corruption are crucial to the prosperity of Ukraine and its people.”

While this document did not mention Nord-Stream 2 or warn against Russian abuses of energy deliveries, the United States did note that it “is committed to the energy security of Ukraine.”

The full text of the Ukraine-U.S. Charter on Strategic Partnership can be found at this link: https://www.state.gov/u-s-ukraine-charter-on-strategic-partnership/

Moscow’s Unbridled Imperial Plan – Just Check History and the Maps

Western pundits continue to wonder in an irritating sort of way about Russia’s intentions in Ukraine though they wrongly personify its aggression with the name of Vladimir Putin.

Just as the eight-year Russo-Ukraine War is the latest manifestation of Moscow’s unappeasable quest to subjugate Ukraine that has lasted since Andrey Bogolyubsky sacked Kyiv in 1169, Putin is today’s executor of this immoral, ungodly mission.

Most explanations can be found in general knowledge of the history of Moscow and Russia. With threats, proscriptions and invasions, Moscow has attempted to control Ukraine’s destiny while it ceaselessly plots to re-subjugate it.

Recent articles accessible to all have substantiated this assertion but sadly the experts haven’t been able to make reasonable conclusions.

One popular question asks how long this war – not conflict – between Moscow and Kyiv will last.

Former Swiss ambassador Toni Frisch, who spent years coordinating humanitarian aid in Ukraine, cast a mortal pall on the situation by predicting, “For me, it’s clear this conflict is likely to last a long time. I would call it a ‘tailor-made frozen conflict.’”

Certainly, a frozen conflict or zone will bring death and destruction to Ukraine for years to come. That outcome will certainly not benefit the victim and Europe.

Russians, on the other hand, suggested an end to the war that will obviously benefit only Moscow’s imperialistic objective.

In an article in New Eastern Europe, political scientist at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and Editorial Advisory Board member of The Ukrainian Quarterly Taras Kuzio wrote that Dmytro Medvedev, the Kremlin’s second-rate political functionary who espouses Putin’s official line, said the war will go on until Ukraine becomes a second Belarus.

“Wait for the appearance of a sane leadership in Ukraine, which does not aim for total confrontation with Russia or organize foolish ‘Crimean platforms’ created to trick the country’s population and flex their muscles before the elections, but at building equal and mutually beneficial relations with Russia,” Medvedev opined. He also added the warning that “Russia knows how to wait. We are patient people.”

His words reveal much about Moscow’s policy toward Ukraine. The comparison with Belarus is the most deleterious. Today, Belarus and its president Lukashenko are akin to being the latest captive nation of Russia and its leader a mere administrator, weaker even than Ukraine’s ill-fated Viktor Yanukovych.

Medvedev indicated that Ukraine’s defense of occupied Crimea is foolish while cautioning everyone that Russia will wait until a Lukashenko appears in Kyiv – “Russia knows how to wait.”

And while waiting, it will continue undoubtedly to squeeze Ukraine until it starves the nation – literally and figuratively – and Kyiv surrenders, disrupting regional and global peace security. Simultaneously, Moscow is confident that the free world will come to Ukraine’s defense the same way it did in Belarus’ case.

Kuzio concluded: “Following this Russian nationalist logic, the only normal state of affairs for Ukraine is to resemble today’s Belarus.” In other words – surrender.

Putin upped the ante against free world expansion into what Moscow contends is its territory by warning that the enlargement of NATO military infrastructure in Ukraine crosses his red line. He’s sending an unambiguous signal to all concerned. Ukraine, independent or not, is its sphere of influence. Obviously, that’s why Moscow invaded and occupied Crimea and why it is waging an open war in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts of eastern Ukraine for almost eight years – the longest war in Europe. Furthermore, Putin is telling the free world’s military-political alliance what it can and can’t do. Don’t cross the red line.

Putin’s July 2021 essay “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” read like a declaration of war against Ukrainian statehood. This was followed by f Medvedev’s own vitriolic anti-Ukrainian article, which dismissed Ukraine as a “vassal state” and argued that any talks with the current Ukrainian authorities were not only senseless but harmful. Putin claimed Ukraine was being functionally controlled by Western nations to foment anti-Russian sentiment.

“We will never allow our historical territories and people close to us living there to be used against Russia,” Putin wrote. “And to those who will undertake such an attempt, I would like to say that this way they will destroy their own country.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba rejected the notion of a Russian red line outside of Russia’s own borders, and said Kyiv had its own security to think about. “Putin’s red lines are limited to Russia’s borders,” Kuleba tweeted. “On our side of the Ukrainian-Russian border we can figure out ourselves what to do in the interests of the Ukrainian people, as well as Ukraine’s and Europe’s security.”

Moscow is not limiting its warnings to Ukraine. It is also dictating behavior to other regions of the world.

“We call on Afghanistan’s neighboring countries not to allow a military presence of US and NATO forces that plan to move there after leaving Afghanistan’s territory,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a video conference held in Tehran after US forces evacuated.

It is evident that Moscow, the evil empire, is setting foreign policies for the free world rather than vice versa. As many have expected, Europe, hungry for energy and eager to acquire it anywhere, has made the devil’s choice and became a hostage to Moscow, hoping against hope that it will not escalate its war against Ukraine to Europe.

This fear has given the Kremlin carte blanche to ride roughshod over the international community, disregarding everyone’s concerns, admonishments and sanctions. Iuliia Mendel, President Zelenskyy’s former press secretary, recently correctly pointed out that Moscow is the root of global instability. “However, when it comes to fueling and exploiting today’s rising tide of international instability, one country, in particular, stands out. Russia has emerged over the past two decades as the world’s leading exporter of instability. This has become a central pillar of Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy, allowing Moscow to undermine potential opponents from within while enabling the Kremlin punch well above its true geopolitical weight,” she noted.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an overseeing institution, expressed the same point of view that Russia is not only a party to aggression in eastern Ukraine, but the prime driver of it as Russia started the bloody confrontation and continues to fuel it.

“Last week, and most weeks, we in this Permanent Council hear Russia deny involvement in the conflict it initiated and continues to sustain in Ukraine.  Russia has brought peace negotiations to a standstill by refusing to participate unless Ukraine implicitly recognizes Russia’s proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk by directly engaging with them — a move which would only advance Russia’s false narrative that the conflict in the Donbas is an internal conflict,” Courtney Austrian, chargé d’affaires of the US Mission to OSCE, said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on September 30, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. According to Austrian, Moscow also attempts to mask the truth – “Russia is not only a party to this conflict but began this conflict and continues to directly fuel and lead it despite signing onto to a peace deal more than seven years ago.”

And to prove Moscow’s unmasked aggressive plans, this weekend several news media, including The Washington Post, reported about another buildup of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine that has international observers biting their nails.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said the troop movements have reignited concerns that arose in April, when the largest buildup of troops by Russia near the Ukrainian border in years sparked an international outcry.

The renewed movements of Russian forces in the area come as the Kremlin embraces a harder line on Ukraine. Putin and other Kremlin leaders have escalated their rhetoric in recent months, attacking Kyiv’s Western ties, questioning its sovereignty and delineating a red line.

Can you blame Ukraine for using Turkish drones to destroy Russian military positions?

Videos have surfaced on social media showing Russian military trains and convoys moving large quantities of military hardware, including tanks and missiles, in southern and western Russia.

“The point is: It is not a drill. It doesn’t appear to be a training exercise. Something is happening. What is it?” Michael Kofman, director of the Russia studies program at the Virginia-based nonprofit analysis group CAN, was quoted as saying.

Officials in the United States and Europe began noticing the movements, particularly in recent weeks, after Russia concluded a massive joint military exercise with Belarus known as Zapad 2021 on its western flank in mid-September.

According to Kofman, satellite imagery shows that forces from Russia’s 41st Combined Arms Army, normally based in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, didn’t return to Siberia after the exercises, and instead linked up with other Russian forces near the Ukrainian border. Kofman also said imagery appears to show that Russia’s 1st Guards Tank Army, an elite unit based outside Moscow, is moving personnel and materiel toward Ukraine.

The new images taken by Maxar Technologies and shared with POLITICO show a buildup of armored units, tanks and self-propelled artillery along with ground troops massing near the Russian town of Yelnya close to the border of Belarus. The units, which began moving in late September from other areas of Russia where they are normally based, include the elite 1st Guards Tank Army.

Meanwhile, a new analysis by Jane’s today revealed that equipment from Russia’s 4th Tank Division has been moved to areas around Bryansk and Kursk close to Ukraine's northern border. The units are equipped with T-80U main battle tanks and self-propelled artillery.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defense council, said in a statement that after the conclusion of the Zapad 2021 exercises, Russia left military equipment, as well as control and communications centers, at training sites along the Ukrainian border. Danilov estimated that the number of Russian troops deployed around the Ukrainian border at 80,000 to 90,000, not including the tens of thousands stationed in Crimea.

Putin’s saber rattling has no bounds. On Monday, November 1, he emphasized the need to strengthen Russia’s air defenses amid NATO’s military activities near its borders. Speaking during a meeting with military officials and arms makers in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Putin specifically noted the deployment of NATO’s US-led missile defense components in Eastern Europe and increasingly frequent missions by NATO ships near Russian waters in the Baltic and Black Seas. 

“Even now, a US warship has entered the Black Sea, and we can see it in binoculars or crosshairs of our defense systems,” Putin was quoted as saying in a reference to the USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the U.S. 6th Fleet, deployed to the Black Sea. 

Indeed, US and Europe are in Ukraine’s corner – at least with their pronouncements. Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Charles Michel, president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, met in Kyiv for the 23rd Ukraine-EU Summit and issued a statement, which said at the start: “We gathered today to reaffirm our continued commitment to strengthening the political association and economic integration of Ukraine with the European Union, on the basis of the Association Agreement and its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area.”

Russia has regularly been mobilizing and bivouacking its vast army on Ukraine’s border only to withdraw it after a few weeks. Everyone’s concern evaporates but what if next time the Russians don’t evacuate?

It’s a no-brainer what Moscow is doing. It’s telling the world what it will do if Ukraine and the free world express their sovereign rights. Remember “Mein Kampf” by Adopf Hitler? The free world must act first by hogtying Moscow into submission.

Former Captive Nations Cite Russian Crimes and Invasion of Ukraine

Ukraine’s neighboring former captive nations of Russian subjugation took advantage of the opening session of 76^th Session of the UN General Assembly to address Moscow’s threats against their countries as well as violations of international peace, stability and security by invading and occupying Ukrainian territory. It was not only a sign of solidarity but also concern that they could be Russia’s next targets. To be sure, they also listed among the Kremlin’s transgressions its bullying of Belarus, Georgia and other countries.

Address of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda.

“We also deplore efforts by Russia to exert pressure on Lithuanian judges and prosecutors who investigate the case of atrocities committed by the occupying Soviet army in Lithuania in 1991. Lithuania calls on all states not to execute related international arrest warrants…

“For the seventh year we are witnessing the continuing military aggression against Ukraine, as well as the illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea. These actions violate international law, the Charter of the United Nations, as well as the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act. They should be condemned universally.

“We must reinforce the policy of non-recognition of the occupation and annexation of Crimea. It is also extremely important to protect the rights and freedoms of the local civilian population. I commend the Ukrainian effort to keep this issue on the agenda by creating the International Crimean Platform.

“Lithuania respects Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic choice and continues to support its reforms in this troubled period. Seeking to consolidate international efforts, we have co-hosted the Ukraine Reform Conference in Vilnius this past July…”

Address of the President of Latvia, Egils Levits.

“…The crisis in Belarus can only be resolved by new, free and fair presidential elections in the presence of international observers.

“Meanwhile, Russia’s military intimidation campaign against Ukraine continues. This confirms the need for the international community to support Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“Latvia sees the newly established International Crimean Platform as a valuable format for keeping the issue of Crimean de-occupation on the international agenda. We call for the widest possible engagement of the international community in the Crimean Platform.

“Furthermore, the frozen conflicts in the Moldovan territory of Transnistria and the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, should be solved in accordance with international law, with full respect for the territorial integrity of Moldova and Georgia…”

Address of the President of the Republic of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid.

“Conflicts still ravage many countries and new ones have occurred.  Wars continue to be fought from Ukraine to Syria. Authoritarian regimes like Belarus, for example, have come up with new hybrid tools to attack democratic societies with innocent people. Those who suffer the most continue to be the most vulnerable in our societies – women, children and adolescents…

“That is why we have to talk about the repressions in Belarus, stand in solidarity against the aggressive and destabilizing behavior of Alyaksandr Lukashenkaʼs regime and remain convinced that the will of the Belarusian people should be the main guideline for shaping the future of the Republic of Belarus.

“That is why we can´t forget occupied Crimean peninsula and the situation in Eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has our strong and unwavering support for their sovereignty, territorial integrity and for non-recognition policy of the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia. Security is indivisible – Ukrainian security is also ours. As an elected member of the UN Security Council, we continue to keep the issue of Russia’s aggression in Donbas and illegal annexation of Crimea on the UNSC agenda…”

Address by the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda.

“…Unfortunately, tragic developments are unfolding also close to the Polish border and I have the impression that humanity seems to have forgotten about them.

“And yet, the pandemic has not stopped the war in Ukraine where over 13 thousand people died since the beginning of the Russian aggression with one state seizing the territory of another. In Europe after World War 2, in the 21st century, Ukraine has been assaulted.

“What was the response of the rich North to the drama of the Ukrainian nation fighting for its independence? The response was the construction of a large Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline which will carry Russian gas to Western Europe bringing further billions in revenue to the aggressor, and complete helplessness or even indifference to the fact that from that moment on Ukraine will find itself in an even bigger danger.

“Recently I have attended the Crimea Platform Summit in Kyiv being one of few leaders representing the rich North. I searched with my eyes for those who have constructed and approved the construction of Nord Stream 2. I did not find them…”

 Address by President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu.

“…In the spirit of Moldova’s Constitutional neutrality and international law, I would also like to reiterate that our position on the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian forces remains unchanged. This includes the removal or destruction of ammunitions from the Cobasna stockpiles which pose a security and environmental threat to the region as a whole. We count on the support of the international community in this endeavor…”