US war profiteers and buccaneers the biggest threat to world peace: China Daily editorial

A strange situation has emerged during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis: While the parties directly involved are consistently seeking to de-escalate the tensions, the United States, which is thousands of miles away from the region, is doing its utmost to whip up fears of a possible war, as if one was imminent.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan sounded the "apocalyptic" alarm again on Sunday, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin could order an attack on Ukraine within days or weeks. "We are in the window. Any day now, Russia could take military action against Ukraine, or it could be a couple of weeks from now," he said in an interview on Fox News Sunday.

He made the dire warning despite Moscow repeatedly denying it has any plan to invade Ukraine, and while a diplomatic push is in full swing to avoid the worst-case scenario of war happening. Just days ago Russian and Ukrainian negotiators agreed that a permanent cease-fire in eastern Ukraine must be observed "unconditionally" following hours-long talks in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron was scheduled to head to Moscow on Monday and Kiev on Tuesday seeking to de-escalate the crisis and push forward a stalled peace plan.

"An honest assessment of the situation suggests that the chance of finding a diplomatic solution for de-escalation is still substantially higher than the threat of further escalation," Ukrainian presidency adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.

That Ukraine and its European allies want to avoid a military confrontation with their giant neighbor is easy to understand. Worries over a military conflict have already prompted many foreign investors in the country's financial markets to cash out, threatening to devastate its already struggling economy. Not to mention the huge humanitarian crisis that would surely occur in the event of war. US estimates suggest a military conflict could trigger a refugee flood of up to 5 million people in Europe, and result in 25,000 to 50,000 civilian deaths, along with those of 5,000 to 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

Given all that is at stake, it is hard to imagine why some politicians in the US are still so eager to keep pushing their message of war. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations, said that the highly charged rhetoric of US politicians surrounding Ukraine benefits only the US itself, as it is "ready to sacrifice Ukraine to their geopolitical interests".

But Fox News channel host Tucker Carlson seemed more incisive when he pointed out that "the core problem is that in America, elected officials no longer decide when we go to war, as in, say a democracy. Instead, bureaucrats, generals and defense contractors make those decisions sometimes unilaterally". This is actually the greatest danger the world faces today.