How I would end the Gaza and Ukraine wars
These two wars are the ones getting the most attention worldwide. Efforts to end them or even broker cease-fires have, so far, failed. However, the art of negotiating a settlement (which happens to be one component of my job) often requires both sides to accept something repugnant to them. Compromise can sometimes be nothing more than eliciting the feeling that the other guy is suffering just as much as you are. With that in mind, I'm proposing the following.
Ukraine
We all remember Putin's boast that he would be in Kyiv within a week. Not only did he fail to achieve that, he hasn't been able to crush the Ukrainian resistance. Ukraine for its part hasn't been able to expel the Russian troops. The war appears to be a stalemate, albeit one with tremendous loss of life.
I propose that Russia keeps Crimea and the parts of eastern Ukraine it currently occupies. The people there are mostly Russian speaking and virtually Russian already. In return, Ukraine joins NATO immediately. Russia is already bordered by six NATO countries - Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Norway. One more won't make a difference. The theory that Russia invaded Ukraine to prevent it from joining NATO has only come from Russia's apologists in the West ("how would the US react if China wanted to place missiles in northern Mexico?"). The argument on the other side ("How would the US react if Mexico wanted to take back the Southwest?") is at least plausible because Russia does, in fact, occupy eastern Ukraine. So Ukraine loses that area in exchange for NATO's guarantee that Russia won't be able to take anything else from them.
Gaza
The stated reasons for Israel continuing the war is to root out Hamas and get the remaining hostages back. Negotiations up to now have failed because, despite the Arab League's concurrence, Israel insists that Hamas must leave, and they don't want to. The conspiracy theory reason is that Netanyahu wants to prolong the war as it gives him a reason for staying in office and avoiding prosecution for financial crimes. This may not be entirely out of line as many Israelis believe this. So I'm proposing to grant him a complete pardon in exchange for his resignation. He can retire with no fear of prosecution. And since Hamas doesn't want to leave, fine, they can stay there on condition that they release the hostages. However, that would also mean that only food, medicine, and other essentials would be allowed in - no building materials as long as Hamas is in charge. They can rule over the world's largest tent city. Any Gazans who wished to leave would, of course, be allowed to.
I realize that neither of these are long-term solutions, although my Ukraine proposal may end up being just that. It does nothing to curb Russian expansionism in other places, just as my Gaza solution doesn't result in a Palestinian state. But if implemented, these would at least have the immediate effect of ending hostilities. The alternative, outside of absurd proposals like NATO invading (the people suggesting this seem to be unaware that NATO is a purely defensive organization) would be for the status quo to continue indefinitely. No one will agree to give up something for nothing. If that's what you want, all you're doing is prolonging the conflict while gambling that your position will improve in the future.
Ukraine
We all remember Putin's boast that he would be in Kyiv within a week. Not only did he fail to achieve that, he hasn't been able to crush the Ukrainian resistance. Ukraine for its part hasn't been able to expel the Russian troops. The war appears to be a stalemate, albeit one with tremendous loss of life.
I propose that Russia keeps Crimea and the parts of eastern Ukraine it currently occupies. The people there are mostly Russian speaking and virtually Russian already. In return, Ukraine joins NATO immediately. Russia is already bordered by six NATO countries - Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Norway. One more won't make a difference. The theory that Russia invaded Ukraine to prevent it from joining NATO has only come from Russia's apologists in the West ("how would the US react if China wanted to place missiles in northern Mexico?"). The argument on the other side ("How would the US react if Mexico wanted to take back the Southwest?") is at least plausible because Russia does, in fact, occupy eastern Ukraine. So Ukraine loses that area in exchange for NATO's guarantee that Russia won't be able to take anything else from them.
Gaza
The stated reasons for Israel continuing the war is to root out Hamas and get the remaining hostages back. Negotiations up to now have failed because, despite the Arab League's concurrence, Israel insists that Hamas must leave, and they don't want to. The conspiracy theory reason is that Netanyahu wants to prolong the war as it gives him a reason for staying in office and avoiding prosecution for financial crimes. This may not be entirely out of line as many Israelis believe this. So I'm proposing to grant him a complete pardon in exchange for his resignation. He can retire with no fear of prosecution. And since Hamas doesn't want to leave, fine, they can stay there on condition that they release the hostages. However, that would also mean that only food, medicine, and other essentials would be allowed in - no building materials as long as Hamas is in charge. They can rule over the world's largest tent city. Any Gazans who wished to leave would, of course, be allowed to.
I realize that neither of these are long-term solutions, although my Ukraine proposal may end up being just that. It does nothing to curb Russian expansionism in other places, just as my Gaza solution doesn't result in a Palestinian state. But if implemented, these would at least have the immediate effect of ending hostilities. The alternative, outside of absurd proposals like NATO invading (the people suggesting this seem to be unaware that NATO is a purely defensive organization) would be for the status quo to continue indefinitely. No one will agree to give up something for nothing. If that's what you want, all you're doing is prolonging the conflict while gambling that your position will improve in the future.
