Amid the smoke and mirrors of opposing narratives, an analysis The Military Situation In The Ukraine dated 1 April, 2022 on the US-based non-profit humanistic Postil Magazine is refreshing, rendering a professional insider's view of this saga's whys and wherefores.
The author, Jacques Baud, is a former Policy Chief for United Nations Peace Operations. He worked with NATO during the 2014 Ukrainian crisis and later participated in programs to assist Ukraine. A former colonel of the General Staff, and ex-member of the Swiss strategic intelligence, he is the author of several books on intelligence, war and terrorism.
The article delves into the long-drawn-out bombardment and persecution of Russian-speaking people in the Donbas region in violation of the Minks Agreements; atrocities of Western mercenaries with Nazi leanings of the Azov Regiment; and Putin's initial limited "demilitarization" and "denazification" aims in securing Ukraine's neutrality from NATO expansion.
A 2017 documentary film, Breaking point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine, flags up the awakening for nationalism of a historically-suppressed people; how they defied and managed to overthrow corrupt Ukrainian governments in the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity on the Maiden Independence Square.
On 28 April, the American Congress resurrected a World War II-era Lend-Lease Act (1941) to lend arms to Ukraine for a protracted war against the Russian invasion. Putin is responding by upping the ante. The US-led NATO coalition is reeling under consequential energy shortages and price-hikes, along with mounting inflation fears, while treading a thin line avoiding nuclear Armageddon. Meanwhile, Ukraine is hemorrhaging with its blood and treasure, with some 6 million refugees creating a humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions.
All this is crying out for an early endgame. Perhaps a Swiss solution for Ukraine's permanent neutrality, foreclosing chances of joining NATO, may be a least bad idea, notwithstanding difficulties of security guarantees.
A "Swiss Solution" seems to be agreed upon by a global network of specialized experts who took part in a War Game simulation by Wikistrat (originally based in Tel Aviv and later in Washington D.C.) See its summary of findings. For my part in the China Team as a long-time Senior Analyst, I received an Excellence Award from the Alexander Hamilton Society. Download Wikistrat Excellence Award Certificate - Gold Diploma - 30.03.22
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