There’s something odd about the fact that Ukrainians mean to host a diplomatic meeting in Switzerland that supposedly is a ‘peace summit’ but that does NOT count with the presence of one of the warring parties.
Not only that, but the losing side appears determined to establish the conditions for peace – have they not heard that ‘history is written by the victor‘?
Whatever the rationale behind it, it is now becoming increasingly clear that the oncoming Ukraine ‘peace summit’ is developing into a big flop.
The fact that US President Joe Biden will probably not be present at the event led embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to ‘issue a warning’ over his non-attendance.
Newsweek reported:
“Biden’s absence from the talks on June 15 and 16—which will be aimed at developing a common understanding of a path toward a just and lasting peace in Ukraine—would be like giving Russian President Vladimir Putin a standing ovation, Zelensky told reporters during a press briefing in Brussels, Belgium.
Washington has said that the U.S. will participate in the summit but hasn’t said whether Biden will be attending. Bloomberg reported on May 23, citing people familiar with the matter, that the U.S. president will likely miss the event because it clashes with a campaign fundraiser in California.”
Russia hasn’t been invited to participate in the summit, China will only send a low-level civilian official, and Biden will apparently prefer the company of Hollywood celebrities to the optics of a failed war.
“‘If [Biden] is not present, it will be just like applauding Putin: personally applauding and doing so standing’, Zelensky said, as he urged as many countries as possible to participate in his peace summit.
‘I believe that the Peace Summit needs President Biden, and other leaders who are looking at the U.S. response also need him. If you want peace, you will be there and you will speak, even if you don’t agree with something. And if you want war, you will go to the mob that Russia wants to organize’.”
Out of the more than 160 delegations from around the world invited to join the peace summit, there have been 70 confirmations.
Euronews reported:
“Meanwhile, China and Brazil, two countries that the West has accused of failing to denounce Russia’s invasion, published last week a joint statement insisting on the need to include both Ukraine and Russia in any peace conference. Following Beijing’s policy, the statement did not mention the occupied territories in Eastern Ukraine.
‘All parties should create conditions for the resumption of direct dialogue and push for the de-escalation of the situation until the realisation of a comprehensive ceasefire’, the two countries wrote.
‘China and Brazil support an international peace conference held at a proper time that is recognised by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation of all parties as well as fair discussion of all peace plans’.”
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