With all the Epstein crap and now our attacks on Iran the ‘other’ war in Ukraine is falling through the cracks (for now)….
After years of war and countless tidbits about a ceasefire that never materializes this devastating conflict is no closer to a solution than it was the day after the original invasion.
The West has done all it can with cash and inventory to help without getting directing involved with troops…but after four long years maybe it is time to face reality.
Since the war started, voices in the alternative media have said that Ukraine cannot win a war against Russia. Indeed, John Mearsheimer has been saying this since 2014.
Four years into this devastating war, those voices feel at one and the same time both vindicated and unheard. Ukraine is losing yet western leaders in Europe appear bent on continuing the fight.
Nothing is illustrative of this more than Kaja Kallas’ ridiculous comment of 10 February that Russia should agree to pre-conditions to end the war, which included future restrictions on the size of Russia’s army.
Comments such as this suggest western figures like Kallas still believe in the prospect of a strategic victory against Russia, such that Russia would have to settle for peace as the defeated party. Or they are in denial, and/or they are lying to their citizens. I’d argue that it is a mixture of the second and third.
When I say losing, I don’t mean losing in the narrow military sense. Russia’s territorial gains over the winter period have been slow and marginal. Indeed, western commentators often point to this as a sign that, given its size advantage, Russia is in fact losing the war, because if it really was powerful, it would have defeated Ukraine long ago.
https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/why-cant-western-leaders-accept-that
After all the loss of life and the massive destruction from the fighting and all of it could have been avoided by one simple action.
When Zelenksyy was elected all he would have had to do was state formally that he had no intention for Ukraine to join NATO.
How hard would that had been?
After the invasion there could have been a immediate ceasefire with three things coming to the table….
If peace is to come to Ukraine three things are needed. First, the historical causes of the war must be acknowledged. Second, the goals and security needs of both sides must be addressed. Third, each side’s red lines need to be respected. Compromises need to be acknowledged and embraced as an accomplishment and starting point. Instead of seeing the remaining issues as frustrating impasses that lead to despair of diplomacy and continued war, they need to be seen as the last hurdles to a peace that all sides – Ukraine, Russia, the U.S. and Europe – should be encouraged to overcome.
No doubt, clearing those hurdles means neither side will get all that it wants, and both sides must decide what they need. That is why the historical causes and essential goals of each side need to be identified. The compromise settlement must then be composed in terms that allow both sides to present it to their citizens as having achieved the core goals and security concerns.
(antiwar.com)
After four bloody years we know that neither side wants to compromise and seems none of the benefactors want it either.
With all that in the spotlight time for the West to buck up and face reality….this conflict is a money pit that will will cost so much that it will be impossible to end it.
Realty is a cruel bitch!
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
The US should never have gotten involved in this in the first place. Over the decades we’ve dumped hundreds of billions of dollars into conflicts like this and have lost tens of thousands of soldiers and killed hundreds of thousands of people. And ultimately all of that effort, all of that expense, all of those deaths, have accomplished almost literally nothing and in most cases our involvement has actually made these situations far worse than they would have been if we’d stayed out of them entirely.
Most of our wars have been a waste of money and yet we keep doing things over and over….not saying much for our leadership. chuq
I agree with grumpyfarmer. We should have said no to giving dollar one from the first time the green goblin held out his slimy hand. Can you even imagine what a fraction of that “aid” would have done for our people? And as you write, this has been going on for much longer than 4 years. But war is a racket, money making machine, and we can’t have the MIC going broke.
Everything about this government is ass-backwards. Trump keeps waxing poetic about all those “big beautiful coal mining” jobs. In reality, only about 63,000 people are directly employed by the coal mining industry in the US. That’s it, just 63K.
Meanwhile the renewable industry directly employs about 550,000 people.
So someone please explain to me how coal is more important to the economy of the country than renewables.
Regarding “Reality” let me lay some “Reality” down for you now….As long as there are people who profit from war there will be wars…some of the wars will be spontaneous while others will be calculated, created and controlled by big money….But on the positive side, continuous wars also provide job security for those employed in the armaments and munitions industries …along with a lot of supporting industries …this is good for the economy in a rather convoluted manner of speaking — It is like the disease called “Cancer”…. my opinion is that as long as Cancer is a multi-billion dollar medical industry, there will never be a cure.
Well and good John….but the reality I was referring to was that of this war and not the BS the Donny-ites want you to believe. chuq
I am no fan of Putin or his invasion, but you have to go back a long way (at least to 2014 if not before) to see the root causes of this invasion and the previous bad treatment of ethnic Russians living in eastern Ukraine. None of this started in 2022. Then there is the money, which keeps flowing and is completely unaccounted for. The UK alone has given £3 BILLION a year to Ukraine since 2022, and continues to do that every year, including a commitment from Starmer to carry on to at least 2028. Where has that all gone? Add the money from the US and EU, and we are talking about a gigantic amount of disappearing cash year on year.
Best wishes, Pete.
Yep there is so much more to that conflict than the 30 second news bites……chuq