Tensions Rise Between Ukraine & Israel After Zelensky Reportedly Told "Surrender"

 

 In the current Ukrainian fog of war, I found this news from Zero Hedge especially interesting. But for once, my comments come after this short article.

Tensions Rise Between Ukraine & Israel After Zelensky Reportedly Told "Surrender" - Article Source.

A bizarre diplomatic back and forth between Ukraine and Israel erupted this past week after a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the media that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged Kiev to accept Putin's proposal for ending the war, effectively surrendering.

"Bennett is basically telling us to surrender and we have no intention of doing that," the unnamed senior Ukrainian official told Axios. In the wake of the report, the Israeli Prime Minister's office issued a vehement denial of the claim.

According to Axios, Zelensky and his advisors were angry over the alleged recommendation from Bennett, which may have led to leaking the exchange to the press. Kiev says that Bennett had initiated the Tuesday call wherein the advice was given.

Russia has demanded that to end the war, Ukraine must recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the statehood of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as write neutrality regarding NATO into its national constitution, or effectively 'demilitarize' itself vis-a-vis its relationship with the Western military alliance.

Israeli media also picked up on the story, with The Jerusalem Post describing:

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy that he recommends Ukraine take the offer made by Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war - which includes many Ukrainian sacrifices - in a phone call on Tuesday, according to an official in Ukraine's government. According to the official, Zelenksy did not take Bennett's advice.

The source claimed that the phone call was initiated by Bennett. "If I were you, I would think about the lives of my people and take the offer," Bennett reportedly said. 

Zelenksy's response was short. "I hear you," he said.

PM Bennett has had increasing direct interaction between Putin and Zelensky since the invasion kicked off on Feb.24.

"Bennett told us to surrender," a Ukrainian official was cited as saying. "We have no intention of doing so. We know Putin's offer is only the beginning."

Axios filled in some further details based on the Ukrainian sources as follows:

• The government in Kyiv thinks Bennett has not been acting as a mediator, the senior Ukrainian official said. He added that a mediator needs to push for compromises, put proposals on the table and not simply pass messages.
• “We don’t need another mailbox, we have enough of those," the Ukrainian official said.
• The official added that Zelensky and his advisers believe that if Bennett wants to stay neutral and mediate, he needs to appoint an envoy that will work on this full time.

By Saturday, not only had Israel denied the report, but Ukraine's government itself is downplaying it, given there's likely concern that it could lead to unnecessary tensions between the two countries, also as Israel is increasingly looking like a possible mediator amid the war. But it remains the initial story was likely leaked for a reason.

Comments: So why is this article so interesting?

Because both bennett and Zelensky are right! And this by itself underlines the complexity of Ukraine.

Bennett is right because he analyses the war in light of the Palestinians fighting the overwhelming Israeli army: No snowball chance in hell! And sure enough, now that Putin has started the war, he cannot retreat less his regime falls. He will have to commit more and more resources to this war, which he can, until the Kiev current government falls. He was probably hoping that they would see it that way too and understanding their predicament, the Zelensky team would give up and offer him a quick victory. They didn't. He must now fall back to plan B.

But Zelensky is right too! He has gone too far to retreat at this stage. People around him would not accept that. Be they Nazi as Putin states or hard core nationalists, it doesn't matter. He would be dead. But then, what do you do when like him, you are cornered by a superior force? Well, Ukraine is complicated because it is a big country which cannot be occupied easily and certainly not without a very large army. Specialists say about 500.000 men. Putin simply does not have them. It would be too large a fraction of his army. 

The only option for Zelensky, is not to fold and fight to the bitter end, hoping somehow that at some stage, NATO will be sucked in and be obliged to come to his rescue. Yes, there is the risk of nuclear weapons. Putin said he would not hesitate. But by this he most certainly meant a few "tactical" strikes to scare off the enemy so it is a risk worth taking... for Zelensky. But not for Ukraine! The longer the war, the more ordinary Ukrainians will suffer and the longer the path to recovery. Ukraine was already one of the poorest country in Europe. It will now be much poorer still. 

The tragedy of this war is that it is a proxy war between EAST and WEST and that no one wants a quick solution. The West wants to weaken Russia. Ukraine is perfect for this: A fish too large to be swallowed in one gulp. But the EAST is not Russia and its perceive land vulnerabilities, it is China. 

China doesn't care much about Ukraine and this untimely war. Russia by now must be begging the Chinese to help. Reason why, in one way or another, we really are on the edge of world war III. But China has another longer term agenda to overthrow the mighty dollar and it is not ready yet. This is why both Ukraine and Russia are in a predicament as both of them can't pull in their sponsors into the fight. So the war will go on and the risks will rise.

If, as it seems obvious by now, there is no easy solution, the two countries will have to find an uneasy one that neither likes. For this reason alone, Russia will bleed and Ukraine will suffer. The humanitarian catastrophe will go from bad to worse and at the same time, the world will plunge in a recession first, and a deep depression soon after. Probably this Summer or at the latest early Autumn. Time then for China and India to offer a new Bretton Woods III multi-currency monetary arrangement?  

Quite possible. I will write about this subject in a few weeks when the outcome of the war becomes clearer.