Whether it’s a provision in a commercial contract, a labor dispute, a divorce settlement, or a question of whether the batter sliding into first base was safe or out . . . it’s usually wise to bring in a skilled mediator (or umpire) to bring clarity out of chaos.

Or, on an international scale, to prevent World War III.

But the mediator’s job is to listen to both sides, to consider the legal issues, and to offer a reasonable, mutually beneficial solution . . . and, first and foremost, to be completely disinterested and objective.

The war between Russia and Ukraine is just that: it is between Russia (the invader) and Ukraine (the defender). Between Putin and Zelensky. Not Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, or Recep Tayyip Erdogan, or any other president or prime minister with a vested interest in the outcome. And every last one of them has such a vested interest, and an agenda of their own.

Putin and Zelensky must find their own solution.

So what happens when one of the parties, while claiming to desire a settlement, continues to refuse to meet with the other party on the basis of one lousy excuse or another? In this case, it isn’t just the fact that we have two very strong-willed individuals, each determined to protect his country’s interests.

No, that wasn’t difficult enough. Now we have to add another wrinkle: Putin’s claim that Volodymyr Zelensky is “illegitimate.”

That is indeed what he has said . . . only he’s not casting aspersions on Zelensky’s mother. He claims that the President of Ukraine is not the legitimate president in accordance with Ukraine’s constitution, because (in Putin’s view), had the country not been under martial law, there would have been an election on March 31, 2024, and Zelensky might not have won, thereby ending his presidency on May 20th of last year.

Well, that proves it: Putin flunked Logic.101.

Think about it: He invades Ukraine (on February 24, 2022) — a country that is of no conceivable threat to him; he bombs the living daylights out of them for three years, eventually occupying some 20% of their sovereign territory; he forces them to live under martial law, thus necessitating postponement of their regular presidential election; and then he declares their duly-elected President . . .

Illegitimate!

Maybe he didn’t flunk Logic.101 after all; maybe he simply rewrote it.

But, as the silly saying goes, it is what it is. So what has happened? It has become everyone else’s problem, and what we have is a cacophony of voices in many languages, each proclaiming that they have the best solution to a problem that was never theirs in the first place.

Yes, it is uquestionable that the outcome of this war will affect the entire world; in fact, it already has. Kyiv is not Las Vegas; what happens in Ukraine does not stay in Ukraine. And so, in that sense, it is indeed the world’s problem. But is it not, first and foremost, a problem that needs to be solved to the satisfaction of the two principal parties?

I don’t know how it will be possible to force the protagonists of this drama to talk to each other, mano-a-mano. But until they do, it appears that all of the well-intentioned advocacy from others will continue to be of little or no effect.

And one of two things will happen: either the war will drag on, or Zelensky will be forced to cede territory that rightfully belongs to his people. Either way, Ukraine will be royally . . .

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/31/25