Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know – Dmitry Medvedev Proposes Absurdist Alternative Peace Plan

Dmitry Medvedev harangued Western countries in a Telegram post on Thursday for what he calls, their wholesale, unquestioning support for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s ten-point peace formula.

Included in Zelensky’s ten-point peace formula are calls for the restoration of Ukraine’s 1991 borders, the provision of assurances on radiological, energy and food security, the freeing of prisoners and deportees, and the payment of reparations by Moscow.

Medvedev, the former Russian president, prime minister, and current deputy chairman of Moscow’s security council, often makes outrageously bizarre comments seen as either pandering to hawkish public opinion inside Russia or saying what President Vladimir Putin is more reluctant to say – such as his oft-used saber-rattling blatant nuclear threats – in order to “feel out” international reaction.

Medvedev contends that the “conflict” in Ukraine can only be brought to a halt “on the basis of recognizing realities” – meaning, of course, his and Putin’s new realities, as enumerated in the dictator’s interview with Russian propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov on Tuesday.

Medvedev concludes that Kyiv’s plan is “brain-dead” then goes on to lay out his counterproposal for securing an end to the war, which he said can only be achieved either with the negotiation of a mutually agreed and reasonable compromise, or by one of the warring parties surrendering – meaning, of course, Ukrainian acquiescence and/or Russian victory.

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He goes on to list the elements of his own “calm and quite realistic Russian [peace] formula. Humane for everyone”:

• Recognition by the former “Ukraine” of its defeat in the military component of the conflict. Complete and unconditional surrender by the neo-Nazi clique in Kyiv. Demilitarization of “Ukraine” and a ban on the creation of paramilitary forces on its territories in the future.
• Recognition of the Nazi character of the Kyiv political regime by the international community and the forced denazification of all “Ukrainian” government bodies under UN supervision.
• A statement by the UN of the loss by “Ukraine” of any international legal personality and the impossibility of any of its legal successors joining military alliances without the consent of Russia.
• Resignation of all constitutional authorities in “Ukraine” and the immediate holding of elections for a new provisional parliament in the self-governing territory of the former “Ukraine.”
• Adoption by the provisional parliament of laws on the payment of all required compensation to Russia, including payments to the relatives of the dead citizens of our country and payments for harm to the health of the wounded. Establishing a procedure for compensation for property damage caused to constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
• Official recognition by the interim parliament that the entire territory of “Ukraine” is the territory of the Russian Federation by adoption of an act of reunification of the territories of the former “Ukraine” with Russia.
• The subsequent self-dissolution of this provisional parliament and full UN recognition of the act of reunification.

He ends by saying: “This is a compromise position, right? I think it is precisely on this basis that we can seek a benevolent consensus with the international community, including the Anglo-Saxon world, and hold productive summits, counting on mutual understanding of our close friends – our Western partners.”

“Mad, bad and dangerous to know,” was a phrase used by Lady Caroline Lamb, a 19th century Anglo-Irish aristocrat, to describe her lover, the peer of the realm George Byron. Byron was lauded as one of the greatest English poets who traveled widely through Europe. He died in 1824 at the age of 36 while leading a military expedition against the Ottoman empire in Greece, despite having no military experience.

In an earlier article in Kyiv Post I detailed what I saw as Medvedev’s journey from reforming liberal to rabid warmonger. Reading Medvedev’s ideas here and some of his earlier pronouncements, that downward spiral continues, and Lady Caroline’s phrase ever more aptly describes the ideas and behavior of the former President of Russia.

It’s hard to tell whether he has been tasked to by the regime to make these outbursts or, if they are done at his own initiative, they have been “approved.” If the former, then Putin and his gang must be setting him up as the “fall guy,” because even in Russia he is ridiculed for some of his "vodka-fueled" extreme views. If the latter then he is truly mad, bad and dangerous.