Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas sums up what is at stake in Ukraine war
Plus: Weekly Insights and Analysis Section
Part One - Weekly Insights and Analysis
The American Front in the Ukraine war; G-20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali; Time to play hardball with the “South”
The American Front
As we have pointed out, the American Front in the war to defend Ukraine, the U.N. Charter and our civilization against Russian aggression may be the most important one, more important even than the front in the Donbas where brave Ukrainian soldiers are fighting and dying to defend their country, and our civilization.
For those who believe in the rule of law and aspire to a vibrant democracy in the United States, the political situation in America seems at times almost hopeless.
One has the sense that one is being borne down a river toward a waterfall by immutable forces, as if on a steamboat which has lost its power and missed an important turn into a tributary, and is now drifting downstream silently and inexorably toward the waterfall.
The Republicans seem to be assured of winning both the House and the Senate in the upcoming elections in November. That would not be bad—we need a vibrant two-party system—if it weren’t for the fact that so many of them are Trumpist extremists, including those that deny that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
G-20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali
The G-20 foreign ministers held a meeting in Bali, Indonesia on July 7-8, 2022. Bali is also the site of the G-20 summit meeting to be hosted by Indonesia on November.15-16, 2022. Vladimir Putin has said he will attend, though it is unclear whether he will attend in person or virtually.
Putin’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, attended the foreign ministers meeting on Thursday and Friday, where he was shunned by G-7 and other Western countries. Nonetheless, he had meetings with representatives from China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Argentina, and Indonesia.
So many western participants refused to appear with Lavrov that the traditional photograph was not taken. Nor was there a final communiqué. Lavrov complained at what he called a breach of diplomatic protocol.
Of course, one might counter that the invasion of Ukraine and the targeting and killing of tens of thousands of civilians was a more serious breach of protocol, that established in the U.N. Charter and international humanitarian law.
Time to play hardball with the fence-sitters from '“the South”
Lavrov’s meetings with the foreign ministers of China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Argentina, and Indonesia underlined the failure of American and allied diplomacy to force the fence-sitters to get off the fence.
The time has come to play hardball with the “South”.
As we have written,
We have a civilization to defend, and it must be fiercely defended also against those who countenance the triumph of evil by looking the other way.
Part Two - Key Article
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas sums up what is at stake in Ukraine war
In one succinct Op-ed, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas lays out the reasons Ukraine must be supported and Russia defeated in the current war it is waging against Ukraine.1