War in Eastern Ukraine Has Only Just Begun
The time has come to admit that diplomacy is not all-powerful, and that endless calls for peace, in the absence of real conditions for peace, eventually devolve into demagoguery. Such calls are outwardly very humane, but inwardly devoid of content. Of course, even a "bad peace" is better than a "good war," but even a "bad peace" is not always attainable.
In this way, the current escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine was inevitable. Implementing the provisions of the Minsk Protocol is impossible if the conflicting parties are unwilling to take even the first step in the process — observing a cease-fire.
The West routinely blames the pro-Russian separatists for renewing hostilities, while Russia blames the government in Kiev, even though, of course, both sides are guilty.
Moreover, it is futile to hold either Russian President Vladimir Putin or Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko personally responsible for the acts of violence. First, this is a civil war, the most brutal of all contests and the type in which passions always flare beyond the bounds of the rules and customs of war as recognized by international law.
Second, detachments of soldiers are fighting on both sides that only nominally obey their respective leaders. Both volunteers and mercenaries are fighting alongside the separatists in eastern Ukraine, and why would a mercenary observe a truce?
Poroshenko can promise whatever he wants, but he does not control the "private" army financed by the oligarchs, nor the units of the Right Sector and other radicals.
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http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/war-in-eastern-ukraine-has-only-just-begun/515194.html