Former US secretary of state Mr Kissinger, 98, told the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland that Ukraine must begin negotiations ‘before it creates upheavals and tensions that will not be easily overcome’.

‘Ideally, the dividing line should be a return to the status quo ante. Pursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself,’ he told the conference on Monday.

It came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a powerful speech to open this week’s Davos summit in Switzerland that brute force will once again rule the world if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is allowed to go unanswered.

He told delegates that their summit will become pointless if Putin is allowed to win the war because he is ‘not interested in our thoughts’ and ‘brute force… does not talk, it kills.’

But Mr Kissinger said it would be ‘fatal’ for the West to get swept up in the ‘mood of the moment’ and forget Russia’s position of power within Europe.”

— Update August 28, 2022. Peter Hitchens: A Long War Will Give Us Nothing But Blood. It’s Time for Peace.

— Meanwhile Soros seems madder than ever

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