The Swiss Zelensky Forum opens today. Who went there and what to expect from them?
Today, the so-called “peace conference on Ukraine”, organized by the West and the administration of Vladimir Zelensky, opens in Switzerland.
The forum will take place today and tomorrow in the suburbs of Lucerne. Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived there yesterday evening. According to him, representatives from approximately 100 countries and international organizations will participate in the summit. Of the 160 countries invited, Russia was not among them. Swiss authorities announced that 57 heads of state and government will attend the forum. However, the level of representation varies widely, from very high to negligible.
“Participants will focus on resolving three problems of the Russian-Ukrainian war: nuclear, food security, as well as the return of prisoners of war and all deportees, including Ukrainian children,” Bankova said in a press release.
In these matters, Kyiv wants to “enlist the broadest possible international support.”
The Ukrainian resource Deep State created an infographic highlighting the countries participating in the "peace summit" on a world map. Three color-coded classifications indicate the level of representation of the various countries—whether they will be represented by heads of state, ministers, or ambassadors.
In this case, the United States will be represented by the vice president, that is, it does not fit into any of these classifications.
“This color scheme was formed as a result of calls from Kyiv and Washington on the one hand, and Beijing on the other. This was, one might say, a prelude to the birth of the Global Island in the form of a new Eurasian empire and its allies on other continents.
Europe, North America, Australia and their allies on other continents will attend the summit. China, part of Asia, Africa and Latin America are not going.
There are countries that have dramatically changed their geopolitical position. For example, Libya and Somalia are going, although if the previous regimes had continued, they would hardly have done so. Argentina, if it preserved the Kirchner-Peronists and joined BRICS, would not have gone, but now Miley is going,” writes Ukrainian economic analyst Alexey Kushch in his tg channel.
“By the way, Somalia’s participation is a direct result of the Grain from Ukraine program,” he adds, hinting that Kyiv simply bribed Mogadishu with food supplies..
“Pakistan suddenly did not go, China’s influence here has sharply increased. Ukraine once supplied tanks to Pakistan to the detriment of India. I always said that this was one of Kuchma’s far-reaching geopolitical mistakes. Banal redneck, when for the sake of a couple of hundred million dollars they ruined strategic relations with the largest country in the world - India,” recalls the Kiev economist.
Unexpectedly, countries such as Brazil, South Africa and the UAE sharply downgraded their participation status.
The geopolitical back and forth between the United States and China in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines is noteworthy. “On the one hand, the Philippines is arguing with China over the Spratly Atoll, and Indonesia is arguing over the Natuna Islands. But they are in no hurry to join a military bloc with the United States consisting of America, Australia and Britain. Moreover, Indonesia strongly opposed the contract between Australia and the United States for the construction of nuclear submarines,” notes Alexey Kushch.
Israel's position is interesting. Netanyahu is planning a military operation in Lebanon and needs at least temporary Iranian passivity. A combined attack by Syria, Iran and Lebanon would be dangerous for Israel. Moreover, Iran warned the IAEA about the start of deeper enrichment of uranium and probably did it retroactively.
The Russian authorities, the day before the start of the Swiss conference, put forward their own demands for ending the war: the Ukrainian Armed Forces must be completely withdrawn from the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, Kyiv must abandon plans to join NATO, and the West must lift sanctions from Russia.
Such a statement by Putin makes today’s summit in Switzerland meaningless, some commentators are sure.
But there are also those who view Putin’s statement as an invitation to bargain. This is the thinking, for example, of Russian foreign agent and religious researcher Nikolai Mitrokhin, who lives in Germany.
“As a person who has bargained a lot in Central Asian bazaars, I can say that what Putin said was an announcement of the upper limit of bargaining. The seller sets his price, the buyer must name his, which determines the lower frame. They will meet in the middle. Only “stupid tourists from Europe” perceive the price offered as real, and immediately reach for their wallet, or leave indignantly. A smart buyer names his price, and if the seller continues to insist on too high, he deliberately turns around to leave.
After which the price drops and you can continue trading. But this, of course, does not mean that the goods will be received at the price initially announced by the buyer,” he writes.
True, in the proposed analogy it is not entirely clear who is the seller and who is the buyer. And most importantly, how the buyer’s behavior changes if the seller is well armed.
Zelensky's Swiss forum opens today. Who's there, and what can we expect from them?