Interview with Israeli ex PM Naftali Bennett about peace negotiations in March, 2022
Bennett tried to negotiate a ceasefire or peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia in March of 2022. The two sides were very close. Here's the interview.
[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK9tLDeWBzs[/URL]
The part about Russia starts 2:20 (2 hours and 20 minutes) into the video and goes onto the 3 hour point. Remember that Israel depends on the USA for military, economic and moral support, and so Bennett isn't going to bite the hand that feeds it. Still the interview is eye opening. Here's a summary.
The USA believed there was no chance peace could be negotiated. The interviewer asks Bennett, "Maybe they (the USA) didn't want you to succeed?" Bennett: No response.
Bennett got Putin to agree to end his demand for denazification, which potentially would have involved killing Zelensky. Putin explicitly agreed than Zelensky would not be killed. Putin also agreed that Ukraine would not be required to disarm.
Zelensky agreed that Ukraine would not join NATO. The war broke out because Ukraine demanded to join NATO. So getting Zelensky to renounce this demand or goal was a big deal.
Earlier Ukraine had demanded a security guarantee, from France, the USA and Britain. Russia would have viewed such a guarantee the same as Ukraine joining NATO. It was a deal breaker.
Bennett told Zelensky, do you really think the USA is going to guarantee your security, say, 7 years from now? After it left Afghanistan with its tail between its legs? He encouraged Zelensky to look at Israel. It has a strong, independent military and can protect itself. Ukraine can do the same. Forget about the guarantees and build a strong military. As a result of Bennett's persuasion, Zelensky was willing to give up a security guarantee.
So there was a breakthrough. Both sides accepted this.
Then Bucha happened. (Details of the deaths of civilians in Bucha hit social media.) "I said it's over. I (still) saw solutions in that regard, that I don't want to go into. They're primarily related to postponing the argument by 99 years. "(In other words, he wasn't ready to give up.).
Bennett gave peace negotiations a 50% chance of success. Both sides very much wanted a ceasefire. Putin gave up denazification and Ukrainian disarmament. He did not want to continue at all costs. Yes, people can put on an act of course. But Bennett didn't think he was. And Zelensky had renounced joining NATO.
Boris Johnson adopted the aggressive line. (Boris wanted the war to continue.) The other point of view is that both sides lose in a war. Macron and Scholz were of (that kind of) more pragmatic view. Biden was in between.
There was a decision by the West to keep striking Putin, to take the more aggressive approach.
Everything I did was coordinated down to the last detail with the USA, France, Germany. They blocked it. I thought they were wrong. In retrospect though it's too soon to know. The downside of continuing the war was that there would be more Ukrainian and Russian casualties. This was a huge blow to Ukraine. Infrastructure was destroyed. There will have to be a Marshall Plan to rebuild it. Energy costs went up. Food exports to the Middle East and Africa were affected for a time. On the other hand, Biden created an alliance, that can reflect on other areas, like China and Taiwan. (In other words, he's saying western support for Ukraine may serve as a warning to other countries not to engage in something similar, like a Chinese takeover of Taiwan.).
There was a good chance of reaching a ceasefire if they (western powers) had not curbed it. But I'm not claiming it (blocking a ceasefire) was the wrong thing. In real time I thought the right thing was a ceasefire. Now I can't say. Maybe a ceasefire would have conveyed the wrong message to other countries. (Tiny's note: Is Bennett sincere, or is his statement colored by Israel's dependence on the USA?)