FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
From Ukraine to Xi and Netanyahu, the space for peace negotiations seems to have disappeared!
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, declared that the peace to be achieved during 2024 "must be just". According to him, this means a peace with economic, social and political rights for all; a peace with the end of exile for all those who have lost their homes".
This is precisely an essential reference to the search for a just peace that has been missing in the year-end speeches of some of the current protagonists of world politics.
It is important to note right away that these are leaders with completely different, indeed opposite, political and moral positions: Vladimir Putin is an imperialist aggressor who has violated the territorial integrity of a nation with weapons, contesting its right to sovereignly chose his destiny. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is an autocrat who also aims to pursue an imperial project of annexing a sovereign state.
By contrast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnyk and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are two democratically elected leaders forced to respond, the former to an all-out war of aggression launched by the Kremlin, the latter to the deadliest attack on Israel since the Holocaust. .
But this essential difference cannot prevent us from noticing the content full of threats, promises of continued war, and hints of violent tendencies, which give little or no semblance of cease-fires, massive humanitarian interventions, much less of negotiations for next year.
Putin's threats
Putin's rhetoric changed from last year, when he visibly struggled to call the war in Ukraine "an existential war" for Russia. Now, bolstered by Kiev's stalled offensive, a growing economy and full control of the domestic situation, the Kremlin leader celebrates his soldiers by calling them "heroes" and warns: "We have proven once again that we can to solve the most difficult problems and we will never back down, as there is no force that can divide the Russians."
Then, a day after ordering the most massive and destructive drone strike against Ukraine since the conflict began, Putin makes a false opening: “We have no desire to fight forever. But we will not abandon our positions either. We also want the conflict to end as soon as possible, but only on our terms."
Zelensky's response
Not surprisingly, Volodymyr Zelensky responds in kind: "Next year the enemy will suffer the destruction of our domestic production," the Ukrainian president promises in his address to the nation, convinced that in 2024, thanks to a million additional drones produced at home and above all for the American F-16 fighters finally operational, the Russians "will see what our anger is". But Zelensky gives a subtle hint of his concern when he asks his Western allies to maintain their support, despite signs of weariness among them.
Xi proposes annexation
Xi Jinping's case is different. The Beijing leader speaks from the memory of the future, even if he does not miss the opportunity to send a congratulatory message to Putin, confirming an increasingly strategic partnership: "In the face of international turbulence, relations between China and Russia have maintained a state of health, development and sustainability".
But the heart of the Chinese president's speech is the warning for Taiwan: "its reunification with the Motherland is a historical inevitability." And "compatriots" on both sides of the strait "must be bound by a common goal and share the glory of national rebirth". Xi recounts the times, waiting for the island's Jan. 13 election to find out if there will be a more malleable interlocutor in Taiwan's government.
But the direction of travel is annexation. And the Dragon has never ruled out the possible use of force.
Netanyahu against "pressure"
On the other hand, Benjamin Netanyahu leaves no room for interpretation, Israel's campaign in Gaza will continue for months, with all that this entails in terms of destruction and risks of humanitarian catastrophe: "It takes more time to achieve absolute victory ", says the Israeli prime minister, who claims credit for "resisting international pressure to stop the war before we achieve all our objectives".
If the goal of annihilating the terrorist organization is understandable, it is not at all understandable that even Netanyahu resists pressure, especially American, to define a post-Hamas scenario, where a new and legitimate Palestinian partner provides the government of the Strip.
Joe Biden, revealed Tom Friedman in the New York Times, even yelled at him several times in their confidential phone conversations: "But if Netanyahu continues to refuse because politically it's not the right time for him - Friedman warns in an article clearly inspired by the House White . But soon Biden will be forced to choose between America's interests and Netanyahu's personal interests./ Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Corriere Della Sera"
Lini një Përgjigje