In his interview with Berliner Zeitung published Dec. 15, Chas Freeman calls for diplomacy, although he cautions against expectations that Trump could end the Ukraine war as soon as he promised. The situation in Ukraine is complicated: The Russians are about to win the war, and now the challenge is to find a solution acceptable to all sides. Freeman endorses the Chinese peace plan in combination with an agreement along the lines of the neutrality agreement found for Austria in 1955. The West, however, has so far not accepted the Russian request for a new European security architecture.
“In my view, three points need to be negotiated in order to achieve a peace process in Ukraine. Firstly, Kiev and Moscow must agree on the border. Secondly, the minorities in Ukraine must be granted the right to live out their own language and culture. This right is guaranteed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and was also enshrined in the Austrian State Treaty of 1955. It is not only Russian-speaking Ukrainians who suffer from the claims of ultra-nationalist Ukrainians, but also Hungarians, Romanians and other minorities.
