Much ado about nothing: the Baked Alaska summit

They came. They saw. They left. They achieved nothing. So much for the “Baked Alaska” summit.

“Russian America” just ain’t what it used to be. It’s plain old America nowadays, although on a clear day, disconsolate Russian border guards can be spotted on Big Diomede Island. About 10 of them are there, against whom some 75 Alaskans stand firm on Little Diomede Island. This is probably a secure border, at least for the moment, as the closest Russian Orthodox community is in Nome, about 215 kilometres away. Anyway, these “Arctic Ivans” won’t try anything. Surviving island life in the Bering Strait is much easier than staying alive in sunny Crimea, to say nothing of on the battlefields around Pokrovsk.

The guy who wasn’t there wasn’t invited. You might think he would be offended. He isn’t. He knows who’s won. And that’s not U.S. President Donald Trump, much less Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had no role to play. He is neither a real estate developer nor a dictator. Instead, he is “Ukraine’s Moses,” determinedly leading his nation away from Moscow’s pharaoh, continuing along a well-beaten and rather “long and winding road” in the historical experience of Ukrainians. Once the crippling legacy of Russia’s imposed settler colonial project has been fully shed, as it will be, Ukraine will resume its rightful place in Europe. Meanwhile, Muscovy will just further mire.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly confirmed that Ukrainians will never reward the aggressor. For the forgetful, he means Russia, which started the war against Ukraine in 2014 and escalated its brutality on Feb. 24, 2022. There will be no “land for peace,” not after more than three and a half years of fighting. Why? Because any such settlement would not secure a just or lasting peace. It would merely provide a respite for the marauders, allowing Putin’s now-increasingly enervated Russia a chance to recuperate before launching yet another attack.

At least, Putin has been candid. He has said he wants all of Ukraine. He doesn’t believe Ukraine is a legitimate country or that a people known as Ukrainians exist. Erasing Ukraine and Ukrainians is his goal. That is known as genocide. Putin’s legions even continued bombing Ukraine as the summit was being held. So there you have it: Ukraine seeks peace, but Russia intends to wage war, after war, after war until there is no more Ukraine. You can’t fault Ukrainians for finding this an unpalatable prescription.

What is now evident, as never before, is that Ukrainians never were, are not now, and never will be Russians. Indeed, never before in history have Ukrainians been as well-known and admired as they are today. The valour of their soldiers, the stoicism of the Ukrainian people, and the principled and stalwart leadership of Zelenskyy have earned them widespread respect, a silver lining in the dark clouds of Putin’s war against the West.

But the admiration of others is not enough. To achieve a real peace, Ukraine must defeat Russia. And it will, by continuing to target Russia’s oil and natural gas-production facilities, railway and logistics networks, and by killing as many Russian soldiers as it can. It is doing a good job on all those fronts. If, sometimes, that means having to give up a farm field, or a destroyed hamlet, it will. Ukraine is a large country. Kyiv can trade space for time. Wherever they withdraw from today is land Ukrainians will reclaim tomorrow. Russia will pay reparations for what needs to be restored.

The West can help by providing more advanced weapons systems to Ukraine’s defenders. All frozen Russian assets must be allocated to Kyiv, increasing the resources it needs to defend itself. And the West needs to tighten sanctions against all those who directly or indirectly contribute to the war-making capacity of the so-called Russian Federation.

Putin is little more than a dead man walking. His confederate, Trump, is a lame-duck president, desperately trying to make himself look better in history, contrasted with what his actual record warrants. Compared to these two men — a man wanted for war crimes, and a boor — Zelenskyy is a wartime leader who has earned the respect of the civilized world.

He is not perfect, by any means. Indeed, I remain skeptical about his chances of being re-elected once this war against Russian revanchism has been won. But then Winston Churchill wasn’t returned to the prime minister’s office even though he steered Great Britain to its great victory over the Nazis. That shouldn’t matter. Zelenskyy is, by far, the most deserving of candidates for a Nobel Peace Prize, a distinction that should be bestowed upon him as soon as Putin’s imperial plan is undone and a just peace won.

Zelenskyy can then decide if he wants to invite Donald to his party.

Lubomyr Luciuk is a professor emeritus of the Royal Military College of Canada.