Who gains and who loses by compromising with Russia

Henry Kissinger

Ns News Online Desk: Henry Kissinger offered to compromise in response to Russia’s demands. Indian journalist Shekhar Gupta responded to Kissinger’s advice.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s war, which is not expected to last more than 48 hours, is in its fourth month. Russian forces have been forced to withdraw from Kiev in the face of Ukrainian resistance. President Vladimir Putin has changed his military strategy to deal with the situation.

Instead of occupying the whole of Ukraine or forming a tyrannical government in Kiev, his goal now is to establish control only over the eastern Danbas area. Despite continued Western military aid, Ukraine’s resistance to all-out Russian aggression is weakening. President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that Russia now controls about 20 percent of his country’s territory.

In that sense, it is possible Western powers have offered to compromise with Russia as a precondition for ending the war. Former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has been among those who have spoken out against Russia’s demands. Yes, that Kissinger, the British journalist Christopher Hitchens, wanted to be tried for war crimes as an accomplice to genocide in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia. This time Kissinger’s target is Ukraine. A decade ago, at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he presented a decision to end the war in Ukraine.

He suggested that Ukraine should accept Russia’s demands and relinquish ownership of the territory it occupied, without resorting to unwarranted violence. He argues that Russia is far more militarily powerful than Ukraine, and that if the war continues, Russia will be defeated, and its very existence will be threatened. He also told the West that pushing Russia to an embarrassing defeat would not be wise, as it would upset the regional balance, increase unrest and complicate the security situation. In other words, his proposal is for a compromise with Russia. Straight to Bengali, going back to the past.

According to the formula, talks must begin with Russia acknowledging the territories it has already occupied in Ukraine. Otherwise, if Russia tries to retake the occupied territories, instead of Ukraine’s independence, war will be imposed on Russia, which could become dangerous. In Davos, Kissinger did not say exactly which borders Ukraine would have to hand over to Russia, but he did say that he would accept Russian occupation of the entire Danube region, except Crimea.

This is not the first time Kissinger has advocated for a Russian occupation. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, he argued for the same. He also said that in its national interest, Ukraine should maintain a “neutral” position, keeping an equal distance from both NATO and Russia.

Ukraine’s President Zelensky has responded to Kissinger’s call for an end to Russia’s occupation. He says it is clear from Kissinger’s advice to leave Ukraine’s own territory to please Russia that he is living in 1936, not 2022. “Listening to him (Kissinger), it seems that he is not speaking in Davos, he is speaking in Munich in 1936,” said Zelensky.

Hasan Ferdous from New York