2022-08-19
This site has put forward the view that the war in Ukraine could have been avoided had the Minsk agreements been respected.
We have also suggested that just as the UK gave Scotland their ill-judged referendum on independence, so Russia might have been (and might still be) amenable to a peace settlement negotiated on the basis of plebiscite(s) in the Ukraine to establish the wishes of the populations in the affected regions, consistent with the internationally recognised principle of self-determination.
Rather than feeding the destruction with ever more munitions (and poisoning international relations with sanctions), we should tell Zelenskyy to negotiate.
The prime minister of Poland takes a different view, and he is a lot closer to the Ukraine and to Russia than we are, so his views should command some respect.
"Poland has no monopoly on the truth, but in matters of relations with Russia we are simply far more experienced than others"
In summary, he considers the Russian move to be caused by an imperialist outlook, which must be met by a resolute military response. He is therefore dismayed by the EU states' inability to mount such a resolute military response.
He makes a sensible argument to explain the politics that afflicts the EU political decision-making process, and he is undoubtedly on target:
"More often chances to defend the rights, interests or needs of medium-sized and small states are losing out when confronted with the largest states. It is a violation of freedoms that is enforced, often carried out in the name of the supposed interest of the whole"
Quite so. In fact he could have usefully extended the exact same point if he had repeated the line, merely replacing the word "state" with "business".
"Let’s just say it: the European Union order does not protect us enough from external imperialism"
Nor apparently from internal imperialism either! Poland has been big enough to resist, but Greece can tell a very different story.
The struggle against imperialism is not won by membership of an imperialist block (although such may permit the choice of the lesser of two evils).
The EU has made clear its ambition to become the United States of Europe, but it hasn't founded that ambition upon the supremacy of the individual state over the federal government - indeed we have seen a determined progression of "competence"-creep toward ever more centralisation. Even the USA, whose constitution did clearly favour the individual state, is now in turmoil due to federal imperialist overreach - so what hope is there for the EU?
Realpolitik will no doubt take its course, but I suggest that even if Russia does still harbour imperialist tendencies, a negotiated settlement in the Ukraine based upon self-determination would reinforce respect for that principle, make unwanted future Russian expansion more difficult to justify, and provide a possible foundation for future peace.
That would still leave the door open for better military coordination within the EU - indeed it could be said that it would buy more time for that to be achieved.
The Salisbury Review has the story.
You may also like to review Yanis Varoufakis' views on the Ukraine. His line of reasoning is different but he gets to the same conclusion - it's time to negotiate and stop the war.
