India Mustn't Wade into the Quagmire of Ukraine

For all the White House bluster, peacemaking is difficult—as Russia's stance on a Ukraine ceasefire and Israel's renewed Gaza air-strikes show. Think twice before getting involved

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The much-anticipated telephone call between US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin to discuss a cease-fire in Ukraine, as well as chart out a path for a lasting peace formula, turned out to be sub-optimal and weighed down by variables antagonistic to a meaningful deal. The tentative deal reached after a marathon 150-minute call has placed energy infrastructure out of bounds, but allowed broader hostilities to continue. In effect, Russia and Ukraine can continue targeting each other's cities and ports. Putin's rejection of Ukraine's US-backed proposal for a complete cessation of hostilities for 30 days reflects Russia's upper-hand in negotiations and a desire to use the ongoing warfare to perhaps extract more concessions from Ukraine, the US and maybe Europe. By dictating conditions for a limited ceasefire, Moscow has revealed a strategy of portraying the US as feeble, reducing the global hegemon to a receiver rather than enforcer of terms. This, in itself, offers a hint of the tortuous road that lies ahead.