By the numbers, Ukraine will never win the war and retake all its lost territory. If Kyiv doesn’t quickly seek a negotiated settlement on the best terms available, Ukraine may ultimately suffer an outright defeat.
You would be forgiven for thinking that after the horrendous strategic disaster that was our two-full-decades-in-the-making defeat in Afghanistan, we wouldn’t be in a rush to repeat our flaws. But you would be mistaken. As a colleague recently quipped to me, American foreign policy seems stuck in the “double down” mode, whereby instead of acknowledging errors — and then correcting them — we simply ignore the mistakes and double down on the same policy elements that led to failure in the first place.
some more incredible admissions, basically just comes out and says that if the west respected Minsk and Ukraine stayed neutral then there would be no war. And then after the war started, it could all have been over in six weeks, if the west didn’t sabotage peace talks. Old enough to remember being confidently told by libs that this is all Russian propaganda:
We could have worked with both Kyiv and Moscow in December 2021 to find enough common ground to come to an agreement to prevent a Russian invasion and keep dialogue alive. Vladimir Putin’s opening demands were clearly beyond what anyone in the West would have accepted, but that’s what any negotiations are about: each side starting with its optimal position and then negotiating down to a mutually acceptable compromise. Putin’s offer wasn’t even entertained.
Russia’s oft-stated non-negotiable was Ukraine joining NATO, which would bring the military alliance to Moscow’s doorstep. One month after Putin’s public offer of negotiations, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg delivered a clear repudiation when he said the alliance stands by its 2008 declaration to admit Ukraine, and that he would continue to “help Ukraine to move towards a NATO membership.”
A negotiated settlement was also possible barely six weeks into the war when Turkey hosted talks between Ukraine and Russia. Heading into that meeting, Volodymyr Zelensky stated publicly he would consider meeting Putin’s main requirement: neutrality. On March 29, it appeared both sides were near a deal to end the war. But for reasons that remain murky, Zelensky sharply reversed course days later and the deal died. In October 2022, Zelensky signed a bill prohibiting negotiations with Russia so long as Putin remains president. There haven’t been any serious discussions since.
It’s weird how having a fundamentally materialist analysis of politics enables you to see things for what they are and not what you pretend they are. Kinda like how modern medicine is better at treating a bladder infection than rubbing your dick with crystals.
Very surprised to see this from the rag The Hill:
some more incredible admissions, basically just comes out and says that if the west respected Minsk and Ukraine stayed neutral then there would be no war. And then after the war started, it could all have been over in six weeks, if the west didn’t sabotage peace talks. Old enough to remember being confidently told by libs that this is all Russian propaganda:
What a surprise, the tankies were right again. How does this keep happening?
It’s such a mystery really, I mean couldn’t possibly be that libs just keep falling for obvious propaganda.
It’s weird how having a fundamentally materialist analysis of politics enables you to see things for what they are and not what you pretend they are. Kinda like how modern medicine is better at treating a bladder infection than rubbing your dick with crystals.
Ironic how liberals see themselves as being intellectuals, but reject the core principle of scientific investigation.