Will Zelensky's "advisory council" bring "peace in our time" to Ukraine?

On 30th September, 1938, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, Neville Chamberlain (left), addressed the crowd after his return from Germany, where he concluded the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler, and said,

"The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine." (Wikipedia) (my emphasis)

The Munich Agreement,

"...provided "cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory" of Czechoslovakia.[1] Most of Europe celebrated the agreement, because it prevented the war threatened by Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland, a region of western Czechoslovakia inhabited by more than 3 million people, mainly German speakers." (Wikipedia) (my emphasis)

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Fast forward to 2020 and we have, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky,

"President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (left) does not intend to withdraw signatures of his Office Head Andriy Yermak and Ukraine's envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk Leonid Kuchma from the minutes of meeting laying down the creation of the so-called "advisory council" with the participation of unrecognized representatives of the occupied Donbas." (UNIAN: 6 April 2020) (my emphasis)


The creation of this "advisory council", which includes Putin's proxies who are euphemistically referred to as "unrecognized representatives of the occupied Donbas", bears a striking resemblance to the Munich Agreement signed by Chamberlain and Hitler in 1938.

 Putin:- 

"the Russian and Ukrainian peoples are practically one single people," which is being taken as a major rhetorical step toward occupying or annexing more of Ukraine as Russian territory
....
The comments came just a day after Putin referred to the Russia-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine [Donbas] as "the militia of Novorossiya," which means New Russia. (Vox : 30 August 2014) (my emphasis)
   

Hitler:-

"... Nazi Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland, a region of western Czechoslovakia inhabited by more than 3 million people, mainly German speakers." 


Unlike Chamberlain's Munich Agreement with Hitler, which was applauded by the Dutch and the French, amongst others,

" ... about 60 MPs with the Servant of the People Party called on President Zelensky to halt the process of creation of the advisory council as many believed the move would legitimize Russian puppet militants in the occupied Donbas, putting them on par with the Ukrainian government, as well as neglecting Russia's direct participation in the conflict." (ibid UNIAN 6 April 2020) (my  emphasis)

Zelensky's argument that,

"The Minutes of Meeting is not an international treaty as defined in Article 2 of Law of Ukraine 'On International Treaties of Ukraine', therefore the law does not regulate the President's authorization of signing or decision to withdraw signatures from Minsk TCG's working document of March 11, 2020," (ibid UNIAN)

thus represents a political and legal sleight of hand that, whilst underscoring his election pledge to end the war between Ukraine and Putin in the Donbas, nonetheless also underscores Putin's rhetorical 'Novorossiya' argument for invading and occupying the Donbas.

Putin is using much the same argument as used by Hitler to invade Czechoslovakia.


And against the backdrop of Zelensky giving the "green light" to the setting up of the "advisory council", UNIAN reports that,

"Russia's hybrid military forces on April 7 mounted 10 attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. "The armed forces of the Russian Federation violated the ceasefire 10 times on April 7," (UNIAN : 8 April 2020) (my emphasis)

The question is :-

"Will Zelensky's "advisory council" bring "peace in our time" to Ukraine?"

Zelensky should remind himself that in 1938 the Munich Agreement failed. 

(to be continued)