Putin’s Peace Talks are Meant to Fail
And his alliance with China could bring tragic consequences to the United States
Editorial rights purchased by iStock. Photo by Kagenmi.
As indiscriminate bombing continues in Ukraine, Putin is re-affirming his demand that Ukraine promise never to join NATO. This tells us one thing:
Putin isn’t interested in negotiating — his goal is utter destruction.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has stated on multiple occasions that entering NATO is a constitutional imperative for his country’s democracy — Putin knows this. He is deliberately asking for something he knows Ukraine will never agree to — thus manufacturing a perfect excuse to level the country.
If you are wondering how we got here, it’s simple: World leaders have given Putin permission to behave this way. No one stopped him when he leveled Grozny. The similarities to the current Ukraine invasion are startling — in almost every way Putin is executing the same playbook he used successfully 20 years ago when he invaded and destroyed the Chechen capital.
Yet despite Putin’s record of atrocities, American presidents have consistently made nice with Putin; including both Bush and Obama — not to mention Trump — who took it to a whole new level.
And then, there is China.
It has been reported that China’s President Xi Jinping made a deal with Putin to delay the invasion of Ukraine until after the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“After Putin and Xi’s meeting on the sidelines of the games, Moscow and Beijing issued a joint statement declaring that their partnership had ‘no limits’ and condemning NATO expansion — a key pillar of Putin’s justification for attacking Ukraine. That statement has elevated Western concerns about a burgeoning alliance between China and Russia.”
In America, Putin’s biggest ally, China, owns 25% of foreign investments in real estate. They are also a major source of medical supplies and foodstuffs to the U.S.
“97 percent of all antibiotics and 80 percent of all active ingredients in American pharmaceuticals come from China. In 2017 alone, the United States imported a whopping $4.6 billion in foodstuffs from the People’s Republic of China.”
The American insistence on cheap goods is not leading us to the American Dream as we might have hoped. Instead, it may well cost us our liberty. If China chooses to side with Putin as the war in Ukraine rages, it could cripple the American economy overnight.
We are now hostage to those interests — we must not be naïve about what could happen here. It may only be a matter of time before China decides to use its power to extort American politicians. We would be foolish not to prepare for this.
Imagine what would happen if the U.S. suddenly lost 97% of our access to antibiotics and 80% of our pharmaceutical production capability. We would have to choose between saving the lives of people on daily medication and being China’s lapdog. That’s not much of a choice, is it?
It boggles my mind that past American presidents have been incapable or unwilling to act on their knowledge of basic human nature. The saying we hear so often lately, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time,” seems not to have been understood by the men who have led the free world.
We’ve seen who Putin is, yet we are all so surprised by what is happening in Ukraine now. We shouldn’t be.
America can no longer make excuses for, or do business with, men who do not respect humanity. We must develop foresight. We must be honest and clear-eyed about who we are dealing with. It’s not enough to react anymore.
The people leading our country can no longer make deals behind the scenes at the expense of our ability to stand firm in the face of tyranny. Every decision they make on our behalf has consequences — we must learn from our past mistakes and take corrective action now before it’s too late.
If we fail to do that, China could hold us hostage just as Putin is holding Ukraine hostage. If this happens, we can only hope that Xi Jinping is less brutal than Vladimir Putin and will negotiate in good faith.
I don’t know about you, but that’s not a bet I’m willing to make.