Ukraine war: Talks can't aim to solve everything, everywhere all at once

Both sides have to realise they need peace

The colours of the Ukrainian flag. Photo by Tina Hartung on Unsplash

Richard Haass is a professional peacenik. In the sense, that he’s an American diplomat and is president of the influential think tank, Council on Foreign Relations. (Wisecracks about American diplomats dealing in war, not peace, are exactly that — wisecracks.)

Anyway, Mr Haass’s recent fulminations on the Good Friday Agreement are enormously insightful considering we’re faced with a war seemingly without end in Ukraine. He points out that no party in Northern Ireland achieved everything it wanted by bringing about peace, but there was something for everyone in ending the conflict. More to the point, all parties realised that the peace agreement allowed them to accomplish more than they could ever hope achieve by continuing to fight.

Noting that the most fundamental lesson of the Good Friday Agreement is “that diplomacy can succeed only where and when other tools cannot,” Mr Haass suggested that a series of British prime…