Dark times. New political and diplomatic morals, immoralities and authoritarian practices. We have once again entered a new era of barbarism and imposition through brute force and the power of the strong. Forget International Law, principles and values that should distinguish interstate and International Relations.
On September 30, 1938, the Prime Ministers of France and Britain, Daladier and Chamberlain, with the dictators of Italy and Germany, Mussolini and Hitler, signed the eight-point Munich Pact. With this, the annexation to the Third Reich of the Sudetenland, where 3 million people lived, was formalized. Sudeten Germans.
A representative of Czechoslovakia was excluded from the Munich conference. While Mussolini was the host, the Pact was drafted by two officials of the German Foreign Ministry, bypassing the German Foreign Minister, Ribbentrop.
Let's come to the news. US President Trump, with his new term, introduced new practices in the exercise of foreign policy. His constant boast is that he does not wage wars, but ends them.
So he decided that the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, which began on 7/10/2023, with a surprise and murderous, slaughtering attack by the terrorist organization, must end.
The Israeli Prime Minister replied that only by crushing and disarming Hamas would he accept an end to the bloodshed. The planetary leader, despite Netanyahu's resistance, who was also facing harsh internal criticism, especially on the issue of Israeli hostages, finally imposed a ceasefire and the partition of Gaza into two zones, under the control of Israel and Hamas.
The Lane has collapsed into ruins. The skirmishes have not stopped, but Trump wants to rebuild it and turn it into the Riviera of the Eastern Mediterranean. Who drafted the terms of the truce? Close advisers to the American President and his son-in-law, with the complicity of the United Kingdom. Arab Emirates, Egypt and Erdogan.
In recent days, we have witnessed an incredibly laborious effort by Trump to impose peace on Ukraine. This is not the first time he has attempted to stop the four-year war.
After his meeting in Alaska with Russian President Putin, it seems that they agreed on a 28-point plan, clearly pro-Russian. As it is revealed, the Russians drafted and submitted it in per. October to Trump.
The European Union, which bore the burdensome effects of sanctions against Russia, counter-proposed, in consultation with Ukrainian President Zelensky, improvements or even removal of conditions. After all, Trump and Zelensky seem to have improved the plan the most, which was limited to 19 points.
However, the Westerners are discussing without the... Russian hotelier. Moscow demands from Kiev not only territorial concessions, but essentially control over Ukraine.
Why did Putin invade Ukraine? His main argument was the alleged rescue of Russian-speakers in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The reason, however, was NATO's eastward expansion, literally outside Russia's door. Americans and Europeans focus mainly on the security of Ukraine on the basis of Article 5 of the Alliance but with American guarantees.
They also insist on maintaining its sovereignty because, according to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, "borders cannot be changed by force".
Following talks in Geneva between US Secretary of State Rubio and Zelensky's representatives, it is claimed that territory occupied by Russia cannot be recognized. And that Ukraine will decide whether to join NATO or even the EU.
Two years before the French Revolution, the then Minister of Finance, addressing the Assembly of Representatives of the Classes, stressed that "the Assembly does not have the right to reduce taxes, but to regulate them". A cartoon of the time, commenting on the ministerial cunning, presented a peasant who gathered his poultry to tell them:
"My friends, I gathered you together to ask you what sauce you want to eat with." The rooster protested: "But we don't want to be eaten, sir"! And the peasant objected: "Don't skip my question, my friends. It is not a question of whether or not you like to be eaten, but only with which sauce you prefer to be eaten."
Let's transfer the French cartoon with the hens, today: Trump and Putin embody the cynical French peasant. Gaza and Ukraine are the poultry that are asked to declare not if they want but with which sauce they prefer to be eaten. With Israeli, American or Russian.
That is, to lose independence, sovereignty, security, territory. In essence, submission is required. And what about Turkish-occupied European Cyprus?
We have previously and recently analyzed the nightmare he may face due to unforeseen initiatives by the American President. Who can rule out a Trump plan for the Cyprus problem, in the style of the Ukrainian one, and ultimatum demand a solution of US-Turkish standards?
Cyprus will be called upon at some point to decide whether it prefers to be eaten with... Turkish sauce; It should not be overlooked that Americans and Europeans praise Turkey's role in the Ukrainian issue, consider it a critical ally in NATO and an indispensable partner in European defense.
Erdogan is pushing for a possible conference on the Ukrainian issue to be held in Istanbul, because he claims a mediating role.
The anarchic international system has been made even more unpredictable and dangerous by the dramatic and stormy geopolitical developments in recent years. Especially after President Trump's rise to power, which overturned every accepted practice of diplomacy and policy rules in International Relations. A kind of diplomacy (diplomatie expéditive) is now in force and imposed by the powerful actors.
International Law has been definitively set aside. It is imperative, "we decide, you obey, you comply and you succumb". A modern, cynical version of the conflict between the Athenians and the Melians. The US-Russia confrontation is first consumed by the spineless Europe.
The Ukrainian, the Middle East and, of course, the Cyprus issue, are part of the great confrontation between the US-Russia, the US-China, Israel-Iran-terrorist organizations as well as middle powers that seek a say and a role on the international stage.
Without underestimating the Turkish grey wolf. Here is the nightmare: Cyprus should not find itself in the dilemma of deciding which sauce it prefers to eat with because that is what the powerful order.
