By OC Register - RALPH E. SHAFFER |PUBLISHED: March 23, 2022,

A month into an invasion of Ukraine that could have been avoided, that nation’s president Volodymyr Zelensky now is willing to concede to Russian president Vladimir Putin the two main issues that brought on the war.

He insisted on his country’s right to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and was unwilling to discuss the future of two breakaway provinces on his eastern frontier has now conceded on both issues, but only after the death of thousands of  Ukrainians, military and civilian, and the devastation of cities, large and small.

No question exists about the brutality of this war, and for that, the majority of the blame lies with Putin and Russia. But Zelensky’s decision to fight to the death in each city, conscripting male residents into the army, and his comment that if the Russians want Kyiv they will have to level it, makes the Ukrainian president culpable as well. He has made the cities a war target. His refusal to abandon Mariupol to the  Russians in return for the safe exit of civilians there had condemned thousands more to death.

In statements made this past week, Zelensky no longer insists on NATO membership and he has signaled a willingness to allow Donetsk and  Luhansk to become part of Russia. He could have done that a month ago and prevented the flight of millions of his fellow citizens to sanctuary in other European countries.

While the generosity of the Poles,  Hungarians other European people in their willingness to accept the millions of refugees is heartening, the disruption of Ukrainian families need never have occurred. Young mothers and their children did not have to be separated from their husbands who stayed behind to fight the Russians, perhaps dying in battle.

What has Zelensky gained by his macho stance against Putin? Up to this point, he appears to have achieved a lot, including the admiration of the American press corps, congress, and especially President  Joe Biden.  Standing against the Russians is something Americans admire, apparently even if it was prompted by a fatal desire to go down fighting in a war that could have been avoided.

“Better dead than Red” was once a slogan of the Western world. Zelensky has carried that idea one step beyond. Russia is no longer red, but the blood now being shed by Ukrainian soldiers and civilians is, even if it’s only in a war against a capitalist, not a communist, Russia.

But it was not only his Ukraine that Zelensky endangered by his seemingly heroic stand against Putin. He has repeatedly made clear that  NATO, and particularly the United States, ought to willingly risk World  War III in support of his unwise decision to fight Russia. His repeated calls for a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine, which would bring American pilots into direct conflict with Russian military aircraft, shows a  blatant disregard for the real possibility of war between the U. S. and  Russia.

President Biden has repeatedly made clear the danger of escalation caused by that “no-fly”  zone but Zelensky continues to plead for it.  Even some Republican senators – Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott – have supported his call.

Putin has already indicated a willingness to use nuclear weapons should the conflict expand. We are appalled by the current extent of destruction in Ukrainian cities. What will it be like if Russian missiles release nuclear bombs on America?

It is necessary to separate his concerns regarding Ukraine from those involving Poland and the  Baltic nations. Removing missiles from countries on his border had nothing to do with Ukraine, but Putin made it a part of his list related to a possible invasion. Those missiles are a genuine concern. It compares to the U. S. fear of Soviet missiles in Cuba in the early  1960s. We were ready to go to war over that issue, as Putin is today over NATO’s missiles on his frontier.

If the U. S. can have a Monroe Doctrine that makes it supreme in the  Western Hemisphere, can’t Russia, often invaded from the West, insist on a similar policy that limits military confrontation on its western border?

None of this seems to be of concern to Zelensky. He asks the people of  Ukraine to die in defense of a nation that would have needed no defense had their president agreed to reasonable demands a month ago.

Ralph E. Shaffer is a professor emeritus of history at Cal Poly Pomona.  reshaffer@cpp.edu.

Silvio Berlusconi has no doubts: The war in Ukraine is Zelenskyi's fault

By Olav Kvilhaug Journalist published February 14, 2023,

And now he is once again going straight against the Italian government's policy towards Ukraine.

Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has no doubts about who is to blame for the war in Ukraine - so does Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

- I think this man's behavior is very, very bad, Silvio Berlusconi said on Sunday.

Berlusconi (86) is still a central figure in Italian politics, and as leader of the Forza Italia party, he is part of the right-wing coalition that brought current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to power.

Giorgia Meloni immediately distanced herself from Berlusconi's statements, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera.

- The Italian government's support for Ukraine is strong and determined, she emphasized shortly after Berlusconi's statements.

Berlusconi has never hidden that he has a friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two met several times when Berlusconi was prime minister - and they are still so close, according to Berlusconi, that they exchange birthday presents and New Year's cards.

It is not the first time Berlusconi has attracted international attention with his defense of Putin.

In September, Berlusconi publicly stated that Putin had been "pressured" into invading Ukraine and that Putin never intended to start a protracted war:

- The plan was only to invade for a week to replace Zelenskyi's government with a government of honorable people, Berlusconi said at the time, according to Politico magazine.

On Sunday, Berlusconi repeated in clear terms that he believes Zelenskyi's government is responsible for the war.

- If he had only stopped attacking the two independent republics in Donbas [the Russian-annexed regions of eastern Ukraine], all this would never have happened, Berlusconi explained.

        Olav Kvilhaug Journalist. inyheter.no