Russia’s rock legend Viktor Tsoi’s verses indicate the path ahead.
By Onur Sinan Güzaltan
Autumn has arrived in Moscow with an unusually sunny spell.
Muscovites are out on the streets, enjoying the city before the long winter sets in.
Cafés, bars, restaurants are packed to the brim.
With the name of “City Day,” Moscow celebrates its 878th birthday with festivals, concerts, and celebrations.
In the city’s vast parks, one classical music concert finishes for another to begin.
Meanwhile, the “Special Military Operation,” launched on February 24, 2022, continues with full force somewhere beyond the horizon.
Of course, the war makes itself felt in Moscow too: in posters of “heroic soldiers” on the streets, in drone attacks that disrupt flights at airports, in assassinations targeting prominent figures, and in the slight rise of prices…
Yet despite it all, in the midst of the storm raging between East and West in Ukraine, Moscow has remained relatively calm over the past three years.
Life carried on in its usual rhythm, despite attacks and harsh economic sanctions.
These days in Moscow, the prospect of peace is once again being discussed aloud, though cautiously.
The summit held in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was followed closely. Every word the leaders uttered, every step they took, was interpreted and loaded with different meanings.
It is worth noting that interest in Trump and his MAGA ideology still remains in Russia; yet his erratic and aggressive moves in Ukraine, West Asia (Iran–Syria–Palestine/Israel), and the Caucasus have only deepened the doubts.
In the end, while the possibility of turning a new page in Ukraine is being debated, no one is expecting peace to arrive overnight.
In particular, following the Alaska Summit, providing “security guarantees” to Ukraine, voiced after Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders, has created confusion in Russia.
After all, the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO, or to put it differently, the stationing of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil, was one of the main reasons for the “Special Military Operation”.
Now it seems the West is trying to force Russia into retreat at the negotiating table, despite its victorious position in the battlefield. And the pretext for this is “security guarantees”.
Each passing we read new things about what these guarantees might include. From NATO troops being deployed on Ukrainian territory to establish a buffer zone, to the creation of a “security fleet” of NATO warships in the Black Sea…
For Russia to accept such a step would clearly mean a concession. And at least on the ground in Ukraine, the realities don’t demand such a heavy concession.
Yet on the other hand, the fall of Assad, Israel’s strikes on Russia’s ally Iran, and the possibility of Trump gaining a foothold in the Caucasus through the Zangezur Corridor are all factors that weaken Russia’s hand overall.
Putin’s photos of “unity” with the leaders of China and India during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China at the end of August and start of September was Russia’s answer to the recent steps of the US.
And amid this turmoil, it is worth pausing to note that the contradictions between East and West are hardening by the day into “irreconcilable contradictions”, and peace can only come when one side finally comes out on top.
The question now is how those warm images from the SCO will play out on the ground…
Will China and Russia stand by Iran? What will be the response to the US’s Zangezur Corridor move in the Caucasus? Can the balance in Syria, tilted in Washington’s favor, be restored? In Europe, will political movements that look favorably on ties with Russia and China come to power in the near future? Or will the globalists maintain power on the Old Continent? Will Eastern countries take the initiative against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine on behalf of the West?
The list of questions could go on…
Leaving the answers for future columns, let’s close with Russia’s rock legend Viktor Tsoi:
“But maybe one day it will happen,
Maybe luck is on our side someday
I’m waiting for an answer, there aren’t hopes anymore
Summer will soon be over.
This summer…”
Yes, summer is ending, and there is no more hope…
Peace in Ukraine is still far away…