“The Difficult Road to Post-War Processing: Assessing the Endgame of the War in Ukraine”

“Post-war processing” is difficult, how will the war in Ukraine end?

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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of the victory over Germany on May 9. (Photo: Representative photo/Reuters/Aflo)

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(Yoichi Masuzoe: Scholar of International Politics)

On May 9, Russia’s WWII Victory Day, a smaller military parade was held on Red Square. Speaking at the ceremony, Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine as a fight against neo-Nazis. Judging from his speech, the possibility of a short-term end to the war is extremely low.

The expression “genuine war”

Consider the content of Putin’s speech.

At the outset, he emphasized that this day was the anniversary of the salvation of mankind from Nazism, praising the battles of our ancestors, and stating, “Today, modern civilization once again reaches an important turning point.” rice field.

In other words, “A real war has begun again against our motherland, but we have repelled international terrorism, protected the population of Donbass, and ensured our safety.” The Soviet Union war and the current Ukrainian war were duplicated.

Just as Hitler broke the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact and invaded Russia, the logic is that the “Western elites” supported Ukraine and launched a “real war” against Russia.

Ignoring its own invasion of Ukraine in violation of international law, the West “cynically and openly prepared a new march against Russia, for which he gathered neo-Nazi bastards from all over the world.” “Blatant retaliation by us.”