Swiss Federal President Viola Amherd poses with President William Ruto of Kenya and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine during the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, in Stansstad near Lucerne, Switzerland, June 15, 2024.
The European Union last week urged its 450 million citizens across the continent to stockpile food, water and other essentials with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warning that Russia could be capable of launching another attack in Europe by Year 2030 – which would force NATO into action against the aggressor.
Russia has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons (5,555 warheads) followed by the USA (5,044), and with Moscow having pulled out of the International Testing Ban on Conventional Nuclear Weapons last October (2024), it is clear that the nations of Europe once more have the nuclear specter stalking.
According to mapping, the world has around 10,000 cities, which means in theory, America and Russia could assign one nuclear warhead each to vaporize every city on the planet.
Also last week at the intersection of 55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honorore and the Avenue de Marigny, the only traffic in sight was a wave of limousine-like motor vehicles – Audis, Bentleys, Crossbacks, Mercedes Benzes, Volvos, Jaguars and even a Rolls Royce Phantom – out of which stepped British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – and eventually 30 other European leaders (from the other cars) – all warmly welcomed by President Emmanuel Macron who was hosting what was the third Ukraine Summit of the year, this one in Paris.
The warmest embrace of all was saved for beleaguered Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelenskiy, exactly a month to the day after he was thrown out of the White House by US president Donald Trump, who told the Ukrainian war leader that he “does not hold any cards,” to which the harassed Ukrainian president shot back: “we are not playing cards, Mr President, we are in war …(sic).”
Ukraine is in an existential war against the aggression of the Russian Federation, which invaded Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022, with the Kremlin expectation being that the Russian forces would occupy Kyiv in weeks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) talking with servicemen on May 29, 2022 during his visit to the Kharkiv region.
President Zelenskiy declined to be evacuated from the Ukrainian capital, and instead rallied his troops to throw back the enemy forces, which to the surprise of Russian president Vladimir Putin, they did. Nevertheless, about 20% of the nation (in the East) is now under the occupation of the Russians, as the war rages on …
And it is in the great red-and-gold décor decorated ‘Salle des Fetes’ (the Hall of Feasts/ Festivity) that the Paris Ukraine Summit was held, if not in a spirit of festivity, then at least in hope – about how to sustain military aid, strengthen the defences of Ukraine even as they explore mechanisms of potential ceasefire.
“We want a lasting peace, with security guarantees on the ground,” President Zelenskiy said, speaking beneath the great ceiling painting “La Republique Sauvegarde a la Paix” (The Republic Safeguards Peace) in the Salle des Fetes.
French President Emmanuel Macron put both his money where his missiles are – two more billion Euros to Ukraine for its defence, alongside anti-aircraft missiles, Air Defence systems, armoured vehicles, war drones and Mirage aircraft, to which President Zelenskiy joked that “first they were yours, and now we see a mirage” in a hall where he was surrounded by supportive and applauding leaders.
President Macron and Premier Kier are at the forefront of pledging France and England to putting post-peace ground troops in Ukraine as a ‘Reassurance Force.’ Moscow promptly accused the two leaders of trying to bring NATO into “Ukraine through the backdoor,” and said part of any peace plan ought to include a “transitional administration in Kyiv, as they wait to hold elections …”
Specifically, Russia’s President Putin has demanded that President Zelenskiy step aside and a “temporary administration be introduced in Ukraine under the auspices of the UN, the US, Europe and our partners; one that we can start talks about a peace treaty with them,” which shows the contempt the Russian leader has for Ukrainian sovereignty.
It was the 2013 December overthrowing of corrupt Moscow puppet president Viktor Yanukovich from power by a people’s revolution called the ‘Velvet Revolution’ that led to Russia annexing the Crimea (Ukrainian territory) in 2014, before launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine eight years down the line.
The last four weeks in Nairobi have seen an unprecedented flurry of diplomatic and artistic activities in Nairobi, Kenya, to mark the third anniversary of the war.
Earlier last month, the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Kenya and the High Commission of Canada co-organized an event commemorating the victims of Russia’s unjustified full-scale invasion in Ukraine, which started on February 24th 2022.
Residents near a burning building after shelling in Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region as the Russia-Ukraine war intensifies.
Among those who attended the event were the Ambassadors, Deputy Permanent Representatives and other high-ranking diplomats from the Kenyan based diplomatic missions of the Argentine Republic, Australia, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, European Union, the Republic of Finland, the French Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Palestine, the Kingdom of Norway, Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, the Republic of Peru, the Portuguese Republic, Romania, the Republic of Rwanda, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Sweden, United States of America, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Slovak Republic, a 27-strong throng against the wrongs of Moscow in its unjustified war in the East.
“Despite the war, Ukraine still continues to send grain around the world through its humanitarian food initiatives. As Canada we stand resolute in our commitment to support Ukraine in ensuring a future founded on lasting peace, justice, and respect for international norms,” said High Commissioner for Canada in the Republic of Kenya Christopher Thornley.
“It is a fundamental principle for Canada and most of its allies that Ukraine must be part of any discussions on ending the war.”
This was in light of the fact that the United States of America is holding one-sided peace talks with Moscow in Saudi Arabia, yet Riyadh is 6,000 kms from Paris – and a lot of pundits suspect Trump is personally interested in these talks as a step to winning the Nobel Peace Prize to best his nemesis Obama from 2009.
“Additionally, we must hold Russia accountable for the atrocities and demonstrate unwavering unity to support Ukraine and address the global impacts of Russia’s war of choice,” Canadian Ambassador Thornley also said.
The Russ-Ukraine war has destabilised trade, supply and prices across the world for years, especially in commodities like wheat, flour, oil and even energy supply, especially at the great Black Sea port, where negotiations are ongoing.
Bread prices
“Our flour, kerosene, cooking oil, and bread prices have all shot up because of supply disruptions caused by Russia’s attack on Ukraine,” says Dr Joy Kiiru, a UoN lecturer in Agriculture; as Dr Dan Oyo of the Kenyatta University chimes:
“We don’t eat numbers, we eat chapatis; and when we don’t, it’s probably because the war in Ukraine (by the Russians) have made chapatti costly.”
Ukrainian soldiers ride a top of infantry fighting vehicles in Novoselivka, on September 17, 2022, as the Russia-Ukraine war entered its 206th day.
“The Russian Federation glorifies the Soviet and Tsarist regimes and has taken illegal actions to replay its imperial past,” Ambassador of Ukraine to Kenya Andrii Pravedvyk states. “Still we, Ukrainians, are optimistic, since the unequivocal support of our partners from all around the globe, from Sweden to Japan, from Norway to Australia, continues and helps us on an everyday basis to save ourselves and the rest of the world from this evil. We strongly believe in the unity of allies who proved themselves to be real friends throughout the history of our nations.” President Zelenskiy in Paris again appealed to the American administration to “be stronger in your dealings with Russia,” as Putin is known to routinely break his word.
Five weeks ago at the White House, President Trump angrily accused the Ukrainian president of “gambling with World War Three” in that awful Oval Office shout-down, unprecedented in modern American diplomatic history.
But it was Russia that hit Chernobyl nuclear power plant in a Valentine’s Day strike last month. And when the buzz of nuclear talk becomes a reality, however fuzzy, then the entire world is in danger – with Europe at the immediate epicenter.
If Warsaw were to be hit with a Russian nuke, it will not be like the cinema, where survivors speak of the war they saw – it would be a simultaneity of atomization -where everything becomes nothing, and all at once; this pluto-uranium children of Oppenheimer.
Trump ought not to wait until the scorching fist of a mushroom cloud bedazzles the Capitol to realise that the real threat to not just Ukraine or Europe but to general world peace, because he is an aggressor with nuclear weapons, is the Gremlin in the Kremlin.
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