Tacitus
10 Oct 2023 #3241
Gorby and Khol did not do the negotiations.
One thing even those who are highly critical of Kohl will admit is that his good relationship with Bush Sr. and Gorbachev and his visits to the USA and SU were instrumental in agreeing on the principals of German reunification. Did Kohl, Bush and Gorbachev negotiate alone? Of course not, they had advisors and ministers to assist them, but their interactions were crucial in solving the difficult issues.
did not accept the appointed leader is a double standard
Leaving moral issues aside, it should be noted that Dönitz was not even by the standards of the Third Reich properly appointed. His appointment solely rested on a law passed in secret by Hitler in 1936, which the allies could not have know about, whose legality itself is in question and he would still have needed approval by an official commitee of the NSDAP and parliament (which technically still existed). The Allies had good reason to not accept him since from their point of view Dönitz claimed to be in charge of Germany without any justification why this would be the case. Something btw. Göhring had claimed as well at roughly the same time.
The reason why the Allies wanted the German army to surrender was to prevent another stab-in-the-back legend from forming.
And that is a refusal to negotiate.
Zelensky has shown that he is willing to negotiate over several things, including NATO membership and the future status of Crimea and Donbass within Ukraine. Putin is said that for any negotiations to start, the West would have to cease supporting Ukraine, and Ukraine would have to withdraw from the 4 Oblasts it still controls, including two provincial capitals. That is not calling for negotiations but surrender.
@Novichok
That story has long been debunked, including by the Israelian PM himself.
What made a meeting between Putin and Zelensky impossible was the massacre in Bucha and Putin's decision to give medals to the suspected culprits.