Talking peace with a tyrant: Who'd do it?

Peace is a beautiful word. It is an ideal condition under which people of different countries, religious faiths, races, cultures and political views can coexist happily, without having to fight with each other, without having to shed blood as being witnessed across the world from Ukraine in eastern Europe to Gaza and Yemen in the Middle East, and even along the Thai-Cambodian border before a ceasefire agreement was signed late last month.

- Veera Prateepchaikul

“Peace is the most effective and least costly tool for preserving the lives of soldiers and civilians,” Pansak Vinyaratn, chief policy adviser to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said in an online post while Thai and Cambodians were locked in a bloody armed conflict late last month.

He said peace is the most prudent approach, requiring fewer resources, offering the greatest value and capable of breaking the cycle of loss at its roots.

I couldn't agree more with Pansak. Peace is a least costly tool for preserving lives of soldiers and civilians. But peace cannot be applied to every leader or country that does not value peace.

Ask Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu whether he values peace? In his mindset, perhaps, peace can be restored and Israelis can live in peace only when all the Palestinians are wiped out from Gaza and Gaza is annexed as part of greater Israel.

Or ask Russian President Putin whether he wants to end the war in Ukraine with peace being restored so there will won't be more bloodshed for the soldiers of the two countries and further destruction of Ukraine?