In an interview with the Financial Times, a top Russian diplomat says there is no communication with Western diplomats at the UN. The complete freeze in contact led the Kremin to assess there is no possibility of a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine.
Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, told FT, "We do not have any contacts with the western delegations," he said of his day-to-day work in Geneva. "On the protocol side we do not see each other . . . Privately we do not have any contacts, unfortunately . . . we simply do not talk to each other."
He said the lack of contact between officials means there is no potential to end the war through talks. "Now, I do not see any possibility for diplomatic contacts. And the more the conflict goes on, the more difficult it will be to have a diplomatic solution," Gatilov said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has only spoken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov once in the past six months. Gatilov said Western military support for Ukraine and preventing peace talks means the war will have a military end. "And so they [Kiev and its western supporters] will fight until the last Ukrainian," he said.
Lavrov said Ukraine made a workable proposal in March before Kiev broke off talks the following month. Multiple sources reported, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kiev as talks were progressing, discouraging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from engaging with the Kremlin.
Gatilov praised Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for attempting to facilitate a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine. Ankara has hosted talks between Kiev and Moscow. Turkey and the UN were essential in crafting a deal that allows wheat to be exported through Black Sea ports.
While Russia is happy with Turkey’s mediation efforts, FT reported two weeks ago that Western diplomats were concerned about Ankara’s ties with Moscow. On Saturday, deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told Turkish Deputy Finance Minister Yunus Elitas that Russian companies and individuals are attempting to bypass Western sanctions in Turkey. Adeyemo warned the White House was attempting to enforce those sanctions.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
How does a “no talking” policy ever end a war? We don’t have to agree right away – but at least START talking would be something. There needs to be some channel of communication open between the two countries that have the most nuclear weapons (more than enough to destroy our planet) in the world.
Why should they talk? The SMALL minded Western Leaders imagine they are winning the war. So they will fight on until Ukraine is reduced to rubble.
Assuming that we want to end the war, even that we loathe to be seen as wanting to end war, We want no end, Zelenski does what told.
There is no reason for US to want to end war, or to appear sufficiently disinterested so other can end war.
It is all domestic politics. Both parties must appear to be “tough” on someone. Nowdays, targets and goals must be big — Russia, China. And for a reason. American self-perception and reality are worlds apart. Our gaps in science and technology has manifested itself already. Mostly with China and Russia.
Suddenly it occured to the leading trumpeters of globalization, just in time supply chain miracles that they miscalculated— badly.
What do we have now? Same faces, same old and new neocon globalists readjusting their natrative, and becoming SAVIORS from the chains we so enthusiastically forged, But their cure is worse than the disease. Instead of a comprehensive assessment — we have another adhockery. Now, the same high priests of globalization are telling us that all we need is to show some muscle and all will be well. Everyone will come to their senses, give us what we want, and do what we tell them.
Get the world into chaos, and the worlds’ smartest would flock to us — and we will be back to the top. Like after the glory of WII.
Like Britain in post-Napoleon era, after a century of never-ending warfare, debt twice its GDP, with post war depression, slump in financing innovations, and money tightening — goes
mindlessly into a catastrophy — Crimean
war with Russia. With the kind of losses in people, it was a classic Phyrric victory.
A half a century later, by the end of WWI, all powers of Europe had undergone transformations. Britain, on the surface intact, became dependent on US. Did not quite get it until WWII.
We are following similar path so far. Believeing
that ratcheting up global tensions would
eventually bring US back to the top.
But these are different times, and US is defending the bygone colonial era dominated by European cultures. What a mistake. Instead of assessing aspirations in the new global order that is
DEFINITELLY not Eurocentric.
Narrow minds protecting their interests are
destined to miss the great opportunities that are here today. But what we need os statesmanship and leaders with good grasp of national interest and historic opportunities.
Instead we have the failed globalists proping up politicians with feet of clay, to once again honor us with their zealotry into a dead end.
But our opponents have time on their
side. Zealots can dissemble and dissemble with an ever shortened time span, while the politics inevitably follow the famous “.. things fall apart, center cannot hold.”
No talking at all. But US-EU relations are fine: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6170254c66011835bd7cd0c774cd1006bb1c2bcff4267a7d320bf1fc671c3dfc.png
Not sure how long US-EU relations will be fine. Germany has reached the point where its own industrial base is losing the ability to compete due to high energy costs. While it may be unlikely, I can actually see Volkswagen and BMW shutting down temporarily. Worse, they could transfer manufacturing to other plants where energy costs are lower. Ironically, China is probably Volkswagen’s largest market. Energy prices are also much lower there.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/germany-risks-a-factory-exodus-as-energy-prices-bite-hard-1.1807657?fbclid=IwAR3WoGQ1qjCvqzg9tMw0gYvZvdpA2fA-LFxtysLNBPEkRcSMZr9d8dSiUp8
Biden won’t even consider talking until after the midterms; somehow he believes his “tough unwavering support” is appealing to US voters. And it’s only Ukrainians dying anyway, so being “tough” is easy.
The big question is how long will the Ukrainians actually doing the dying put up with it? The “grayzone” story posted today detailing Kievan government corruption (as if the widespread, organized and sanctioned looting of foreign aid can even be captured by such a term) is pretty shocking; the conscripts and “volunteers” facing death in abysmal conditions while aid is looted by bureaucrats will only take so much.
Worst revelation; the Ukrainian parliament voted themselves a “70% raise”, funded by international aid, while soldiers are required to use their own personal vehicles to provide transport, and are required to pay for their own fuel and repairs. The last part is difficult to prove; but the first part? That should be a matter of public record, but the US Pravda (err, I mean “mainstream media”) have not mentioned a word of it.
True, the Democrat strategy now is to fill up Ukraine with weapons, no matter that the returns on these weapons are falling. Ukraine can barely integrate them into their military. But keep going until the midterms.
Just read about soldiers complaining that weapons don’t appear, they’re sold on the way.
It’s like filling up gas in a leaking gas tank, just waste money every day, until a certain date. After that you can think of repairs. Before that, you mustn’t show that you made a mistake.
“True, the Democrat/Republican strategy now is to fill up Ukraine with weapons, no matter that the returns on these weapons are falling.”
Fixed. This is as bipartisan as the loyalty towards Israel.
President Macron is apparently frustrated that he doesn’t get a bigger role as a mediator, a role that has gone to Erdogan. But when Macron was given the chance, he talked and held speeches and it didn’t lead to anything. He wasn’t mediating, he was posturing. At one point he was talking to Putin throughout the night and nothing came of it, which made Putin annoyed with him.
Alexander Mercouris (from The Duran) says on YouTube that Russia just took a suburb to Nikolaev in the south. The report came from Ukraine and was confirmed by Russia. That was a development that was unexpected, possibly part of something Russia has been planning secretly. If they’d take Nikolaev it would be as important as taking Mariupol. Nikolaev is an important port, and is on the road to Odessa.
The cost of the Russo-Ukrainian war for our taxpayers can be estimated from the frequent “new” injections of US treasury dollars into that war. My estimate: the cost is roughly 1 billion $$ per month. What do we “buy” for it? Our cheapest soldiers.
Well we get the destruction of Russia as a military threat for a generation or two. That should allow us to enjoy a peace dividend in the future.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good luck with that.
I always feel better when two nuclear countries have open lines of communication, in addition to emergency protocols…
I agree, good common sense…
The US strategy never imagined actually winning the war on the ground. Its less than total disaster progress so far has surprised Washington.
The US strategy was to isolate Russia economically, and to assert a US control of the world economy for the benefit of the US and as dominance of Russia.
That did not work either.
Western diplomats and leaders act like children, not talking to Russian diplomats is ridiculous.
The main job of diplomats is to talk and find solutions to problems. Western diplomats should be fired since they are not talking to the Russians they have no usefulness.
The preferred solution on our side at the moment is the Russians withdraw to the 1999 border. They don’t want to do that so for the moment there is war. If the costs to the West get too high then maybe negotiations are in order but so far it is going great. Russian military is being ground down to powder and very little cost to us.
So what is “our side”? Kleptocrats who get kick backs on hundreds of millions from these appropriations for Ukraine or Zelensky who steals millions when the aid arrives in Ukraine?
Well my side is the side that thinks invading other countries is bad it is bad when we do it, it is bad when they do it.
At what point is there an invasion. Was the 2014 overthrow of the legitimate government in Ukraine by the US an invasion? Is pushing NATO through Eastern Europe country by country an invasion? Is a plan to put a US military base in Crimea before 2015 an invasion?
Borders were agreed on in 1999.
Since 1999 NATO has “invaded” Eastern Europe and in 2014 America invaded Ukraine and placed a puppet government in power.
Irrelevant. There will be no “diplomatic solution” to this war – unless you consider the unconditional and total surrender of Ukraine to Russia as a “diplomatic solution.” Get serious. We are so far past diplomacy in this break between Russia and the West that you’d need the Hubble Telescope to see it. This is near-total war, just short of nukes, between the West and Russia and China. Diplomacy is meaningless.
It is nowhere near total war. NATO is on the sidelines the Ukrainians don’t have access to our good stuff. This would be over very very quickly if NATO showed up.
“NATO is on the sidelines the Ukrainians don’t have access to our good
stuff – NOW.”
Fixed that for you. The West is becoming increasingly desperate.
“This would be over very very quickly if NATO showed up.”
Correct. But who’s to say this won’t happen. We have morons running the US, Britain and the EU.
America’s refusal to negotiate started the Ukraine War.
I doubt any American negotiation could end it. As of now, the two sides have been moved too far apart by the process of war.
Now it can only end when Russia has utterly destroyed Ukraine as an independent nation, and so re-drawn the lines for negotiation.
Actually I believe it began with an invasion.
there is only one thing that the Ukrainian diplomats and hence the UK-nato-US diplomats are going to say to Russia over the course of the next 6-12 months:
We Surrender
Darya Dugina Killer Identified. Natalya Vovk. She is associated with the Azov Nazis in Ukraine. She fled back to Ukraine via Estonia.
The bomb was set by remote control. This detail has huge ramifications. The person who pressed the remote-control button would have been in visual contact with the car and its occupant.
In other words, the terrorists were NOT specifically out to get Dugin. Lets be quite clear: AZOV NAZI paramilitary organisation in Ukraine armed funded and trained by NATO are terrorists. Western state sponsored terrorists.
Both Dugin and his daughter are on American/British “sanctions” lists. Dugin has been the recipient of non-stop racist bigoted western hate-speech. Dugin, is hated by the West and their proxies.
Arrest Biden et al. and present them to the Hague.
If they weren’t specifically out to get her or her Dad what were the odds that some random car would have such odious contents? Lots of Russian’s who disagree with Putin are dying mysteriously these days.
Half of Ukraine already left the country. Half of UAF is gone. Ukr economy less than half since last year. All Black Sea access cut off to Ukr, except for supervised grain ships. Ukr has defaulted or renounced all debt obligations. Ukr has lost access to gas and oil.
Please end the war, surrender unconditional. Thank you.