Arya News - US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has spoken to Tucker Carlson about the progress being made toward a lasting peace in Ukraine, calling the status of Russia`s new territories the "key issue" to putting the crisis to bed, and saying Ukraine has "largely conceded" it won`t join NATO. Sputnik asked a veteran conflict studies expert what risks lie ahead.
Simons, an expert on contemporary armed conflicts and professor of journalism at Daffodil International University in Dhaka, doesn’t rule out major European powers heavily invested in the proxy war against Russia like the UK, France and Germany trying “to provoke some flags or other such things,” to stop a peace deal and keep the conflict going indefinitely, highlighting the recent attack on the Sudhza compressor station “after Zelensky agreed not to attack them" as one possible example.Idealism vs. RealismWitkoff"s comments on Washington"s new thinking vis-a-vis Russia"s new regions in particular are “a very rather strict departure from Biden and previous administrations,” Dr. Simons stressed.Witkoff “mentioned communication…A lot of people think communication is about talking. But it’s not only about talking, it’s about listening. And this is something [the US] appear to be doing,” Simons stressed.That"s a far cry from the "stupid, petty, delusional demands" previously set out by the EU, Biden and Zelensky, which Russia will never accept, the academic said.