Arquivo para May 19th, 2025
Diplomacy fails and wars escalate
19
May
The meeting in Istanbul to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine failed, Russia
didn’t give it much importance, Putin didn’t attend and the demands went beyond what was expected, there is a proposal for a direct meeting between Putin and Trump today (05/19) but without much expectation.
The result was one of the largest drone attacks in Ukraine and a promise by the US to send more weapons to Ukraine, in addition to French toasts and missiles.
In the Middle East, there was also a meeting of the Arab League, with special invitations to UN Secretary António Guterrez (photo) and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Despite their eloquent speeches, in practice they had little influence, the UN was no longer able to mediate, the conflict escalated and the Arab League gave Israel an ultimatum.
There has been renewed bombardment of the Gaza Strip and the advance of ground troops. The conflict not only continues, but also has a bleak outlook, with the Palestinians suggesting a new handover of the hostages taken at the start of the conflict.
Due to the ineffectiveness of moderate international bodies such as the UN, the alternative has been direct negotiations, but these require mediators and in the case of Gaza the Arab League is clearly on the Palestinian side and the threats of a frontal war in the region are increasing.
The international press also highlighted the elections in Portugal, where the center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) won 32% of the vote and the Socialist Party (PS) and Chega de André Ventura almost tied with 20% each, consolidating the advance of the extreme right.
Europe now fears a further advance by Russia, the border regions are on alert and in the Middle East a radical stance by the Arab League would take the conflict to a devastating limit for the region.
It is to be hoped that Russia will give a reasonable nod towards a ceasefire and that Israel, in exchange for the hostages, will finally agree to an indefinite ceasefire.
