Validate Russian Territorial Violations for Peace

"We have never refused to negotiate."

"We are seeking a comprehensive, sustainable and just settlement of this conflict through peaceful means."

"We are open to a dialogue on Ukraine, but such negotiations must take into account the interests of all countries involved in the conflict, including ours."

"[A Chinese proposal (2023) which Ukraine and the West rejected, could] lay the groundwork for a political and diplomatic process that would take into account Russia's security concerns and contribute to achieving a long-term and sustainable peace."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Reuters

Who cares to dispute that Moscow has been prepared for well over a year to engage in 'peace talks', to end the conflict it unilaterally imposed on Ukraine? Infamously its offers to withdraw troops were always linked to demands that there be no repercussions for Russia which was only, after all, securing its security in the face of a dominating neo-Nazi ideology that was rife through Ukraine threatening stability in Russia. One of the primary conditions was that Russia would retain its holdings in the one-fifth of Ukraine it held, as part of Greater Russia.

 

Ukraine thought otherwise. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy counter-proposed that the Kremlin should pull out its troops, to make an end to the 'Special Military operation', and be prepared as well to foot reparations as a penalty for destroying an enormous amount of civil infrastructure in Ukraine, release all Ukrainian prisoners and recant its vile claims of fascist Ukraine, when in fact, it has been Russia whose moves stem from a deep-seated fascist motivation.

 

Workers repair part of a damaged thermal power plant, one of the country's largest, recently destroyed by Russian missiles near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 12, 2024.

On a two-day trip to Beijing, and interviewed by the official Xinhua News Agency, Mr. Putin's sanctimony reflected in the nobility of Russia's determination to combat the Nazis administering the affairs of the embattled Ukraine appealed to reasonableness in that peace is always preferential to war, but there are occasions when a nation's leadership, viewing the danger from without, must take steps to stem the tide of burgeoning fascism before it infected its own nation.

 

Ukraine committed itself entirely and without equivocation to democracy. Its bid to join the European Union and ultimately NATO, allows it entree only because it has converted itself entirely to democracy with a primary intention to defeat its traditional role as one of Russia's  subservient lapdogs, leaving behind the national humiliation of being a shadow country in thrall to Communist Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy whose battered country is now in dire straits with a serious shortage of badly needed munitions against the Russian juggernaut, insists any negotiations must see a complete restoration of his country's territorial integrity; withdrawal of Russian troops, release of all prisoners, the striking of a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression, and security guarantees for his country.

Putin, calculating as ever, poses as the more meritorious of the two belligerents by suing for a peace he very well knows he has no intention of honouring without his demands being met with no equivocation. Meaning that he feels completely entitled to come away with the conquest of Ukrainian territory that he has achieved. Beijing has made common cause with Moscow, claiming neutrality, but clearly supporting Russia's claim of having been forced by manipulations of the West into the position of defending Russia.

During the two leaders' (Putin and Xi Jinping) discussions "a detailed discussion (took place) on the entire range of issues related to the comprehensive partnership and strategic co-operation and (to) determine the new directions for further development of cooperation between Russia and China". Beijing is completely and serenely complicit in the scenario of Putin claiming that history places Ukraine in Russia's inner orbit. Precisely the argument of historical 'ownership' Xi advances on Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Putin's strategic and territorial interests continue to expand Russia's holdings in eastern Ukraine with the Kharkiv region threatened, and Russian troops moving in to capture villages whose residents have fled the conflict for safety elsewhere.

Air raid alert across several Ukrainian regions

This map shows much of eastern Ukraine is under an air raid alert currently.

"Air defence is working, do not leave shelters and be careful" -- Kharkiv governor Oleh Synehubov warned, on Telegram.

Jewish Indigeneity

"We will not recognize Israel at all, because it is our land."

"At that moment [when two Hamas operatives dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jews before detonating two separate bombs to maximize Jewish deaths] I remembered what Israel did against our people."

"I say it's the fault of those who came from America, Britain, South Africa, to settle in my country, to settle in Palestine. They killed themselves."

"According to the Koran, Jews will be dismissed from Palestine and Palestine will be liberated by Muslims."

"An open-ended ceasefire is forbidden, because our land is occupied."

(Now deceased) Hamas political leader Dr.(MD) Abdel Aziz Rantisi

 

Jews, as it happens are not authentically indigenous to Poland or to Brooklyn. New genetic technologies confirm that Jewish origins are in the Middle East, going back to the Neolithic era. There has been, furthermore a permanent presence of Jews in the Middle East in all the millennia since then. Much, much predating the Zionist movement calling on the diaspora to re-assemble in their ancestral homeland, made urgent for survival of Judeans following the Holocaust. 

 

In Israel the majority of the population are primarily descended from North African and Middle Eastern Jewish communities who sought refuge in Arab communities after their forcible expulsion from Judaea, by the Roman occupiers of Judaic geography, after the cataclysmic Judean revolt and Roman response that levelled much of Jerusalem, along with the Second Temple of Solomon. The rest are comprised of the descendants of European Jewry returned to the homeland.

 

Hamas named their October 7 massacre in southern Israel after the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Operation Al-Aqsa Flood occurred as a savagely sadistic sacrifice to Islam by a theocratic fanatical terrorist group. The Al-Aqsa Mosque was built over the ruins of the Temple Mount which formerly sited the Temple of Jerusalem, erected in 515 BCE, its destruction by Rome dating from the year 70CE. The laughable fiction that Jews are not indigenous to the land that Israel sits on is a Palestinian fantasy.

In 1948 when the United Nations partitioned the British Mandate of Palestine with a Jewish portion and an Arab portion, the Jewish establishment in the region immediately accepted, while the Arabs refused, leading to a joint Arab-military invasion to evacuate Jews from their nascent state. An enterprise which failed, leaving the Arabs calling themselves Palestinians who had fled prior to the invasion, disappointed that their expectation of return to take possession of the land Israel sits on, was no longer possible.

Since that long-ago event, attempts to work out peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinian leaders negotiating on behalf of those whose interests they claimed to represent failed, time and again. Despite the fact that Israel offered concessions and compromises and the Palestinians offered none on their part, in the end refusing all conciliatory offers for peace. The latest such agreement, hosted by former U.S. President Clinton, saw Yasser Arafat in 2000 tell Bill Clinton that he would be risking  his life by agreeing to the peace offer. 

When Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005 from the Gaza Strip, forcibly evacuating settlers to leave the area to the Palestinians, Ariel Sharon thought that this would be an opportunity to convince the Palestinians that peace was possible. Philanthropic American Jews spent millions offering a vast greenhouse operation to the Palestinians in Gaza, who contemptuously destroyed it rather than develop it into a worthwhile enterprise and opportunity for employment. Palestinians destroyed all the synagogues after the withdrawal.

Lawlessness became the order of the day in Gaza, although the secular Fatah which also ruled the West Bank was in authority. With the arrival of Hamas, for whom Islam is paramount, the two factions faced off in a civil war of extreme brutality, with Hamas finally prevailing, killing and expelling Fatah from Gaza. Hamas's rule served to restore order, and it was an order based on ruthless autocracy, one that focused not on building a civil infrastructure but a military encampment to which the population's welfare was an afterthought.

"As Hamas took over the remnants of PA institutions in the strip, it established a judiciary and put in place authoritarian institutions. In theory, Hamas governs in accordance with the sharia-based Palestinian Basic Law, as does the PA; but it has generally been more restrictive than the law requires, including by controlling how women dress and enforcing gender segregation in public during the early years of its rule. The watchdog group Freedom House found in 2020 that the “Hamas-controlled government has no effective or independent mechanisms for ensuring transparency in its funding, procurements, or operations.” Hamas also represses the Gazan media, civilian activism on social media, the political opposition, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), leaving it without mechanisms for accountability."

Council on Foreign Relations

A parade for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s militant arm, is held in Gaza. Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Collaborationists in Mutual Harmony

China government official

China hopes the Afghan #Taliban will put Afghanistan's national interests first, uphold commitment to peace talks, embrace the goal of peace, create a positive image and adopt an inclusive policy.

"The hasty withdrawal of the U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan actually marks the failure of the U.S. policy toward Afghanistan. [Beijing stresses the need for foreign forces to stage a] responsible withdrawal [to ensure no security vacuum is created]."

"[The movement -- East Turkestan Islamic Movement; ETIM] poses a direct threat to China's national security and territorial integrity."

"It is the common responsibility of the international community to fight against ETIM."

"We hope the Afghan Taliban will make a clean break with all terrorist organizations, including the ETIM, and resolutely and effectively combat them to remove obstacles, play a positive role and create enabling conditions for security, stability, development and cooperation in the region." 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi

 

"Politics, economy and issues related to the security of both countries and the current situation of Afghanistan and the peace process were discussed in the meeting."

"Wang pointed out that the Afghan Taliban is an important military and political force in Afghanistan and is expected to play an important role in the country's peace, reconciliation and reconstruction process."

Mohammad Naeem, spokesperson, political office, Taliban

 

"With a U.S. exit from Afghanistan and the inability of [Afghan] President Ashraf Ghani to secure the country's borders, neighbors and regional powers have to hedge their bets regarding the future."

"While the Taliban give promises of security to Afghanistan's neighbors, Kabul keeps asking for help." "This perception of an embattled President Ghani doesn't make for good looks."

Torek Farhadi, former Afghan government adviser 

 

"[The Taliban] will never allow any force to use Afghan territory to engage in acts detrimental to China." 

"The Afghan Taliban has the utmost sincerity to work toward and realize peace. It stands ready to work with other parties to establish a political framework in Afghanistan that is broadly-based, inclusive and accepted by the people and protect human rights, especially rights of women and children."

Taliban deputy political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar 

Brazen lies. For consumption by the international community. China, on the other hand knows full well with whom it deals in making a pact with the devil. Afghan Taliban politics is quite familiar to Beijing; a reflection of their own, where stark reality is in conflict with the comforting language of tolerance, sweetness and light. Each, China and the aspiring, soon-to-be reconquest of Afghanistan, are devoted to the ruthless journey of subduing and commanding their respective populations by all and any means.

 

The awkwardness between reality and diplomatic assurances shielded by the exercise in public relations where each paints itself as cognizant of the well-being of those whose lives they directly impact being uppermost in mind. Not that their manner of dictatorial rule must prevail and nothing must stand in the way of complete control. For the Chinese government that means any dissenters, be they ordinary citizens rebelling against tyranny or Chinese billionaires who risk all to criticize government be rewarded with the death sentence of life imprisonment.

 

The Taliban, not the least bit squeamish over distinctions of applying capital punishment for those who defy their theocratic dictatorship, simply slaughter those who stand in their way, those who make overtures to representatives of the democratic west, those who assume their protests will be allowed impunity. The hushed world looking in at the implosion of yet another country whom violent Islamists have destroyed, deplore the fate of women and girls once again imprisoned in their homes.

 

The Taliban with its links to al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, the Pakistan intelligence service, employs the empty pantomime of  'peace talks' with the legitimate government of Afghanistan, its transparent intention to imitate such talks to appease outside critics while rampaging through the country attacking the Afghan national police and armed forces, sending suicide bombers to message civilians and foreign diplomats and NGOs that they will brook no resistance, expand the territory they control.  

Humvees belonging to Afghan Special Forces destroyed during heavy clashes with Taliban, Kandahar Province, July 13, 2021.

 

They now have complete control of Afghanistan's border crossings with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, China and Pakistan; Afghan government revenues from customs now in Taliban hands, as are the routes for trade. The Chinese Communist party in Beijing congratulates the Taliban on its demonstrated journey toward 'peace and reconciliation' with the government of Afghanistan which it is slowly and inevitably destroying. 

The Taliban leadership, however, is anxious for good relations with its neighbours to support its own legitimacy to claim itself the new government of Afghanistan, returning after an unfortunate hiatus. And China is only too happy to oblige, to legitimize its treachery. For a price, for nothing is ever as simple as it may appear. China, prepared to support the Taliban's rule giving it the opportunity to append a critical addendum; the Taliban must fulfill an obligation to China for China's full blessing.

When Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed a nine-person delegation of the Taliban the opportunity to negotiate support for Taliban rule in exchange for an obligation to pledge non-support for Islamic separatist elements in Xinjiang making one contingent upon the other was timely and to the point. China through Mr.Wang stating its expectation the Taliban "play an important role in the process of peace, reconciliation and reconstruction" of Afghanistan. Even while the Taliban is actively engaged in destroying 'peace, reconciliation and reconstruction'.

 

This is not cynicism. This is diplomacy, Beijing-style. Where the U.S. and NATO failed because they attempted to destroy the ambitions of the Islamist Taliban and free Afghanistan from their anti-humanitarian shackles, what transpired was a "hasty withdrawal" concluding two decades of Western effort to pull Afghanistan up by its own bootstraps with foreign aid, investment, military strength and NGO efforts to democratize and opportunize the country to the benefit of its people. 

China's sequestration of its Uyghurs and other Muslims in 're-education' camps, to neutralize Beijing's fears of Islamist uprisings in Xinjiang province not a matter for the Taliban to raise in solidarity with other Islamist groups in a country hostile to their presence in the currently far-greater interests of Chinese support for Taliban rule in Afghanistan. So for the present the Taliban surrenders its support for and assistance to the Islamist insurgents in Xinjiang. All in good time, all in good time.

A guard stands in a watchtower in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, May 3, 2021

 

Taliban Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice

"We don't want a peace that will make the situation worse for women's rights."
"Come that time [should the Taliban be given a share of government power in Afghanistan], they will complete their incomplete dreams and they will be crueler than in the past."
Robina Hamdard, head, legal department, Afghan Women's Network

"We don't want to be the victims of the peace process with the Taliban."
"But the Afghan government totally ignores Afghan women on the peace process."
Laila Haidari, Afghan businesswoman

"[I well remember during the years of Taliban rule being] forced to be inside a dark cage when out of our houses -- I mean the burqa."
"I have been an M.P. twice and a university professor, but no one has ever asked me about peace talks with the Taliban."
"We have had 40 years of war and everybody is tired of fighting, but that peace should not be at the price of losing our rights and freedom as women."
"We want the Taliban to accept women's rights and publish a statement where they guarantee women's rights."
Shukria Paykan, Kundiz, Afghanistan

"Acute misogyny in Afghanistan goes way beyond the Taliban. Without a strong U.S. hand there, it is not looking very good for Afghan women."
"They [Afghan government and the Taliban] can do as they like to them [women] after we leave."
Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan

"When we heard that U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan in 18 months, we girls were asking each other, 'Now what will become of us'?"
"People already think we are bad girls for dancing. What will happen to us if the Taliban become part of the government?"
Qadria Azarnoosh, Hazara traditional dancer

In March 2002 in Kabul, an Afghan girl learns the Dari alphabet during a lesson in an outdoor classroom. Girls who the Taliban banned from education were attending classes for the first time in six years. Photograph: Natalie Behring-Chisholm/Getty Images

Women in Afghanistan who were freed from the Taliban insistence that they appear in public only in the presence of a male guardian and only totally enveloped in a black burqa, to be enabled to become students once again from primary grades to university, will obviously revert back to the time when music was disallowed, girls and women were not permitted to attend school, to work or to celebrate weddings should the Taliban return to power.

Without the civilizing presence of the U.S.-led NATO countries' presence as NGOs, military, civilian monitors and foreign civil infrastructure guides the advantages that women in Afghanistan were able to access finally would never have occurred under the Afghan government.

The Taliban are merely the most fundamentalist of the Islamist clerics and males in Afghanistan, most other Muslim males are only moderate by comparison; conventionally, traditionally, women have had no place in the public sphere, in the workforce, within the educational system. Women requiring medical help had to attend to female-only hospitals where all staff were women, and even they were required under the Taliban to be fully geared in Burqas within the hospital environs, even surgeons performing surgery. This is what awaits women in Afghanistan.

The United States fully realizes that the only way they will be able to pull their troops out of Afghanistan is to convince both the government and the Taliban -- all most of the Pashtun majority tribe -- to make peace by sharing governance. This would be a face-saving device for the Americans while at the same time performing a similar function for the Islamist adversaries. The position of Afghan women is purely co-incidental to the process. This is, after all, with or without the ideological fundamentalism of the Taliban, an Islamist society.

Within Islam it is entirely permissible to appear to be agreeing with an adversary until such time as opportunity presents to pursue the original agenda. The Taliban has been unwilling to meet with the Afghan government despite the government's willingness, even eagerness to reach an agreement with their ideologically pure counterparts. A peace agreement would simply be the initial step in 17 years of conflict for the Taliban to resume their former control of the country. And the fate of the women of Afghanistan will once again be dismal beyond belief.

For a woman as liberated as Shukria Paykan, parliamentary member, and one-time university professor, the concern is that her daughter's school will once again be forced to close. "Women need to raise their voices so they are not forgotten", Habiba Sarabi, deputy of the High Peace Council in Kabul, one of 14 women on the 75-member council stated. All previous efforts at peace talks had excluded women. "We came a long way to achieve the rights we have now", said Saira Sharif, a politician from Khost. "Just to lose them after a peace deal."

As for the Taliban, they do have a stated position on women's rights in Afghanistan. Their spokesmen have pointed out that the Taliban is more than willing to assure Afghan women that their rights will be fully respected. Those rights the Taliban speak of, they emphasize, represent all the rights that Islamic script guarantees them. Those are the rights the Taliban recognize and are fully committed to, just as they were in the days of their rule when al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were honoured in Afghanistan as one among them in the faith.

In February 2002, a man looks at Afghan women waiting to apply for jobs at Kabul’s Ministry of Women, which initiated a drive to encourage professional women to re-enter the workforce after the demise of the Taliban. Photograph: Natalie Behring/Getty Images