Ivan Aivazovsky Palace rains in Venice by moonlight 1878
Vladimir Putin has just about finalized the accession of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), plus the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, into the Russian state. This is a peace offer, even if precious few will recognize it as such. Putin was never eager to make this move, it took him 8 years to recognize the independence of DPR and LPR, but it was the only solution left.
As State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin put it this week: “..accession to Russia is the only way to save the people living in the four former Ukrainian territories from shelling by Ukrainian troops. “The only way to end this is reunification [with Russia].” Obviously, Ukraine and the west label the accession, and the referendums that “solidified” it, illegal, but it’s not under Russian law, and that is what counts for Putin.
After the votes, the situation was scrutinized by Russian Constitutional Court, the Duma, every institution that Russian law requires. Not perhaps international law, whatever that is, but why would Russia bother with that? How, for instance, does “international law” view the killing of 14,000+ Russians living in Ukraine since 2014, by Ukrainian forces?
The US-driven Maidan coup, where an elected president was ousted, in violation of “international law”, is a place to start. The ill-begotten hodge-podge patchwork state of Ukraine was always an accident waiting to happen. Cramming people together into a state who don’t like each other historically, has never been a bright idea. But since for 70 years or so, Ukraine was just a piece of the Soviet Union, there was a kind of peace for that time.
That changed when the wall came down and the Soviet Union dissolved. In the first decade or so after that, everyone was too busy taking care of themselves -especially the oligarchs and CIA agents in the country. But when the dust was settled, Putin was leader of Russia, and he prevented the US from taking over Ukraine -and much more.
This map that Elon Musk reposted a few days ago shows what we already know, that Ukraine as a country was a crazy idea. You can’t have that kind of division and expect a very long time to thrive. In 2012, Yanukovich was democratically elected, he had more votes, and in 2014, Nuland, McCain et al decided they did not like that.
Here’s a video of Petro Poroshenko, the chocolate prince who became the 2nd president, talking about the Russian speaking people in the east. For western Ukraine, they were little more than cattle. But there were more of them than of western Ukrainians, so a coup was needed. No problem for Nuland, but a problem for Putin. Russia protects Russians, wherever they live. Watch the English subtitles.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1577394416561623056
This is why Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 2022, that and the increasing threat of NATO-allied troops and equipment on the border. And said: no nukes, no NATO, no nazis. Of course, the nazis still have Zelensky under control, reneging on his campaign promise to seek peace, NATO moved close than ever, and boy, would they love to get their hands on some nukes.
And that is why Putin decided to take over the 4 regions. It was the only way he saw to protect the Russian people living there. He was, and is, probably right.
Now, Ukraine and Zelensky claim there is a history that makes all of present day Ukraine a state with solid borders, culture, language etc., but it was only in 1922, 100 years ago, that the borders were drawn, under Soviet leadership, and, as I said, it was just a patchwork thing. There is a Ukrainian history, but it’s on a much smaller piece of land than what is today touted as Ukraine.
So, sorry, but there’s not much there. Russia, and Putin, were happy to have Ukraine as a friendly neighbor, they’re all Russians in a broad sense anyway, but not as a country that hosts nazis, NATO and perhaps nukes.
Now that the 4 regions have been declared part of Russia, there is no way back. Zelensky may have big words about taking lost territory back, including Crimea, but to do that, he would have to beat the no. 1 nuclear power in the world. And that is Putin’s peace offer: we’ve taken those parts of your country where you were shelling Russians, and you can have the rest of it, provided you don’t use it to threaten us, and “us” also means the 4 regions.
You may today have troops in a region that is considered Ukrainian, but it is now no longer that. It is Russian. And that is completely different from shelling people on your own territory. Add to that, that Europe is getting de-industrialized, and frozen, and hungry, and you should all ask yourselves if perhaps somewhere in this process you went off the rails. You can apply another 10 rounds of sanctions, but those also will hurt you more than us.
Russia is betting a safe bet: that the people currently in charge in the west, no longer will be when the winter is over. There will be some, but most will be thrown out by the people they failed when they bet on beating Russia with untold billions of funds provided to those in charge of the most corrupt country in Europe. Instead of their own citizens.
And as for the recent advances of the Ukraine/NATO army in the 4 regions: all those troops now find themselves on Russian territory. Which is exactly what everyone tried to prevent. Russia let them go for a while, and withdrew its troops, waiting for the territory to become Russian. And now it is.
Basically, Putin’s peace offer is: we have what we needed, now leave us alone. You know very well you can’t beat us, so let’s sit down and talk.
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