Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may be the most feted head of state in the world, well at least in the West. The question is whether he and his agenda on war and world order largely supported by NATO, should be so dominating that many key issues to the South and India, in particular, get subordinated or marginalized? Wherever he is, he overly broadcasts his own unworkable ideas on how peace and global stability should be decided by more and more pouring “rhetoric” and other oil on the global fire that the Ukraine war has become, threatening all. By NATO leaders essentially agreeing at their Vilnius get together to move Ukraine’s NATO membership application further forward, he may have claimed victory again, politically and personally. But the devil is in the details that indicate it is neither a victory for conflict resolution that will save his country from further mass destruction, nor is it beneficial to the cause of global peace.
Certainly, he remains a constant draw, indeed, for G7 leaders to get their picture taken with him. To be in his good books, as well, visually seems to be too much a centre point for western and ally leaders. It was no different at the Vilnius leaders’ meeting. Global issues like of those starving or paying higher food prices because exports of Russian grain are effectively blocked by his and NATO’s added extreme pressure on sanctions against Russia, do not make it easy for many of the needy in the South, including in India, to be impressed by NATO’s meeting in Vilnius. This lack of focus by the West on other main issues for the rest of the world by pushing peace much less over NATO expansion, seems to get subordinated by everywhere he goes, to his insistent demands for weapons that escalate war and geopolitical tensions and by his continued lectures, if not tirades, against Russia and Putin. And Zelenskyy, for more pronouncements to support continuing the war, is invited to Vilnius. All of which of course further got their “star of peace” a major media billing.
It seems it is all part of an act played by NATO that says no at first to Zelenskyy’s requests, then the Ukraine president presses and gets everything or much of what he wants. So, will NATO’s initial reluctance also be overturned by the Ukraine president’s pressure to get his country’s membership faster than NATO initially promised? Recent past history indicates this very much may happen. For example, tanks Germany said it did not both want or need to give, he pressures and gets them. F-16 fighter aircraft the US did not want to give, he now gets. Fascinatingly, there is criticism galore from his side about the quality of armaments he is getting as aid assistance. There were months of shaming Germany for being so-called slow to provide arms, but not grateful enough for the large amount of refugees Germany and overall Europe takes in and providing his country significant cash assistance. Then, just the other day, his government scathed Israel for not providing armaments to it when Israel has enough worries on its borders. And Israel, smartly and openly telling him as it is that too many weapons given to Ukraine end up in other countries like Syria which Israel sees as a threat to it. Finally, he trashed NATO on the social media platform Telegram for the alliance not committing to give Ukraine NATO membership on a golden platter like almost yesterday.
Now, with the well promised and hyped Ukrainian offensive not going that well, some of his top military people simply say that if Ukraine does not win, it will be because the West and its allies did not give it enough weapons and/or in time. For this complaint what else might NATO do for him one wonders.
What is really worse is Zelenskyy’s grandiose statements recently that there cannot be a proper international order, essentially if his peace plan is not implemented. Rather, I would now argue firstly that there cannot be peace because of his plan to continue war. It is one that provides zero concession to ethnic Russians and Russian speakers’ needed rights to protect their language and culture of near zero interest to NATO. And the Vilnius meeting further went along by guaranteeing him more war by saying that only if Ukraine takes back territories in his country from Russia as a major condition for Ukraine joining NATO. It seems NATO has stepped up the incentive for Russia never to give in or stop fighting.
Zelenskyy not care with his mad, head-strong approach to beat Russia hand’s down backed by NATO, largely considered an impossibility even by some US top generals. He needs to better think more clearly on the views Prime Minister Narendra Modi has about inclusiveness and that “this is not an era of war”.
While one can be sympathetic at times of his country’s brave fight against Moscow, Zelenskyy is clearly too often a barrier to peace given his current ideas and approaches. Is Putin much better, maybe not? But if the Ukraine President insists that only his ideas and approaches to ending this war are viable, Europe can forget about peace for a long time. And as this war drags on, the greater the risk of it widening, possibly to a nuclear war. It would be far wiser for Zelenskyy to understand, including from the results and havoc from the battlefield, that his peace plan (backed in public largely by NATO) has expired and so has any idea that he be invited to the G20 in India, or even beyond. After all Vilnius was a bust for peace along with his messages. And India not inviting Zelenskyy to the G20 meeting of leaders to be hosted by it may have shown more wisdom than the collective constellation of so-called leadership stars there in Vilnius.
The math is simple. The more Zelenskyy’s “star” is raised, the more war, morbidity and refugees and the more promise of victory of peace seized by fire. NATO should do more to stop this game with using their “star”, Zelenskyy, and Ukraine, to delay peace.
