Ukraine

On Wednesday morning last week, I was getting ready for my afternoon speech at the Financial Services Council conference in Auckland.

Was it really an “excellent” phone call with Russia’s dictator, Vladimir Putin? Did it signify, as US President Donald Trump declared last week, an imminent breakthrough for peace in Ukraine?

Our esteemed Pontiff, Pope Francis, has once again had a brilliant epiphany. His solution to the Ukraine conflict is so obvious that one wonders why nobody thought of it earlier: Ukrainians just need to raise the white flag, and there will be peace on Earth.

All eyes are on Europe as the Russian onslaught continues, Ukraine runs out of ammunition, and the upcoming election in the US induces paralysis.

It is hard enough to understand the Germans in the best of times. Yet, in these times of crisis and war, even a native speaker may find it difficult to comprehend them.

The strategic implications of Putin’s war against Ukraine keep evolving as the conflict enters its fourth month. As yet another unintended consequence, it has broken the anti-EU axis between Warsaw and Budapest.

Of all the developments triggered by Putin’s war, the left’s departure from pacifism may be the most surprising one. It will be interesting to see whether only the left in Europe will focus on security in this way.

International junkets for public servants are not my cup of tea. But I will make an exception for the New Zealand Transport Agency, Waka Kotahi. Let’s send their infrastructure team to Ukraine.