Future world order must have no gray zones - Zaluzhny
Compromise in search of ways to end the war, the price of which is the life of an entire nation, is impossible, and therefore the old world order, which envisaged existence of certain "gray zones" that were either subject to influence, remained a field of struggle for interests, or were used to influence another geopolitical party without harm to one’s own territory, was unfair to countries like Ukraine, and its foundations did not establish long-term control over the use of force.
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny notes this in his article "Ukraine’s experience for future security of Europe: illusions and harsh reality" for the Kyiv-based Novoe Vremya (NV) publication.
"The future world order must have no gray zones. Because, firstly, they will sooner or later become a zone of someone’s interests, and secondly, they will bring danger and problems to neighboring states. The experience of Ukraine shows: if you agreed to a buffer zone – expect war, it is already coming to you. Of course, covertly at first. This option will never suit Ukraine again, and logically, it should not suit our neighbors either," the diplomat wrote.
Zaluzhny emphasizes that state security must cover broader and more realistic concepts of the state’s place in the existing world order, and this very world order must determine the future of entire continents, including Europe.
He stated that international law and international institutions failed and can no longer guarantee peace and security on Earth, and attempts to reshape the war in Ukraine into a subject of negotiations between strong leaders, during which the territory of Ukraine, its security guarantees and even natural resources were to become a "bargaining chip," "ended in nothing, proving once again that the world already lives by other rules."
According to the ambassador, international alliances, primarily NATO, "lost their ability to guarantee security to their members, primarily due to technical unreadiness to use force in modern warfare and due to political inability of democratic institutions to make unpopular decisions."
"It is also obvious that the United States is stepping back from the role of the main defender of global democratic values and directly European democracy. All this is happening against the background of unprecedented development of scientific and technological progress and, as a consequence, the emergence of completely new means and forms of war. Ukraine and Russia are directly involved in this," he noted.
Zaluzhny emphasized that Ukraine pays with blood for its experience, so it cannot be converted into big money or big influence, and it must be used to achieve "sustainable peace, which is possible only through partnerships that become the basis of new alliances, without gray zones."
