The Geneva Peace Talks were supposed to give us a chance to de-escalate the Ukraine situation with Russia. But prior to the conference, Deputy Secretary of the State Wendy Sherman set the tone when she foolishly “stressed our unwavering support for Ukraine.” She should have waited until they talked at the conference, this public statement put Russia on the defensive and semi-forces them not to take any deals as it would make them appear weak.
“I briefed the North Atlantic Council on yesterday’s discussions with Russia at the Strategic Stability Dialogue in Geneva. The United States is committed to working in lockstep with our Allies and partners to urge de-escalation and respond to the security crisis caused by Russia.”
“Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was looking for a NATO “guarantee” that it will heed his terms, but the U.S. and NATO have flatly rejected a blanket membership ban.”
“Sherman and Stoltenberg met Tuesday to shore up alliances as NATO prepares for its meeting with Russia Wednesday.
“We affirmed a unified NATO approach toward Russia balancing deterrence and dialogue, and stressed our unwavering support for Ukraine,” Sherman said, noting that the alliance is looking to Russia to take action and reverse its aggressive stance.
Russian Deputy Foreign “Our expectations are entirely realistic and we hope that this will be a serious, deep conversation on key, fundamental problems of European security,” he told Russian news outlets. Minister Alexander Grushko said Tuesday that the meeting between Russia and NATO will serve as a “moment of truth.”
So far the peace talks have been less than fruitful, as you might have guessed, and it appears the negotiations are only postponing the inevitable. Russia has claimed before that they feel Ukraine is like their Taiwan, so that means even if they withdraw from the Ukrainian border now, it is likely only temporary. So it looks like we are still on for conflict with China and Russia, it is only a matter of when.
dan