We keep saying that all wars end – at some stage, it must be added. But when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Oslo last week, he also said that wars do not wait and that suffering and devastation continue all the time. Zelensky met with the Prime Minister of Norway and the President of Finland, both countries sharing long land borders with Russia, and two envoys from the USA, one digitally. This was followed by American talks with Russian President Putin in St Petersburg and a further report-back in Oslo. On Tuesday this week, President Putin, the Norwegian PM and the Finnish President held a one-and-a-half-hour telephone conference at the request of President Zelensky. This means that there is some movement, with new contacts regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine, ahead of the planned talks in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in a few weeks’ time. Some European leaders disapproved of the efforts, while most were glad that they took place, hopefully contributing a little towards ending the five-year full-scale war in Ukraine, which, however, began earlier, with a war-like situation in the east of the country since 2014, when the Crimea region was annexed by Russia.

It is true that many wars and conflicts go on for a very long time; they become protracted and almost normal, with few prospects of ending so that people can live peacefully and cooperation can be re-established among groups within and between countries. Let me, in today’s article, draw attention to some of the protracted wars and conflicts in the world. However, today I will skip discussing the situations in Asia, just mentioning that the rule in Afghanistan, Myanmar and North Korea is problematic for the countries’ people and their neighbours. And, of course, we are certainly well aware that there is not yet a solution to the Kashmir situation.

The Israel-Palestine war is a particularly sad example. In recent years, the suffering in Palestine’s Gaza Strip has been particularly massive, with over 70,000 deaths, including 20,000 children. There........

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