We should then just tell Ukraine to surrender, resistance is futile and it will be over.
Or Ukraine gets leveled and defeated anyway. They are not going to win without anyone calling Putin's hand and daring to fight back in a meaningful way.
Putin wins and stops all future aggressions. Putin will be satisfied and we all live happily ever after.
No more worries about being dependent on Putin for your energy needs. He will be nice and never threaten to cut you off after this.
Europe gets its energy needs taken care of and we just sweep Ukraine under the rug like it never happened.
And just to square the circle, the USA gives Alaska and NorCal back to Russia. Manbird's beloved Goat Rock beach (and I spent a lot of time there as a kid) at the river mouth of The Russian River would be back in its proper hands. And the not coincedently named nearby town of Sebastopol.
And to be complete we should give everything from Sonoma south back to Spain.
Please pardon the obvious sarcasm. I have been channeling the old duck and cover days. Yep hiding under your desk is gonna save you from a nuclear blast. And the similarity of how the Kabuki theatre of wearing virtue signaling cloth masks were going to save you from Covid ...
Yep. I'm ready to find out if he's bluffing. Is this the kind of world we want to accept going forward ? We cannot intercede in an invasion on behalf of and at the request of the invadee without the threat of nuclear retaliation by the invader ? If that is what is going to happen when we finally say no, enough, then let's get this over, now. Or do we just roll over and play dead ? Putin ain't stopping once he gets started. Xi is watching. Who is next ?
Sure. To hell with pretense. Let's make this thing happen...
Yep. I'm ready to find out if he's bluffing. Is this the kind of world we want to accept going forward ? We cannot intercede in an invasion on behalf of and at the request of the invadee without the threat of nuclear retaliation by the invader ? If that is what is going to happen when we finally say no, enough, then let's get this over, now. Or do we just roll over and play dead ? Putin ain't stopping once he gets started. Xi is watching. Who is next ?
One, that Russia faces outright defeat in Ukraine. Incompetent or not, Russia still has vast military resources and can hang on a good long while in a war of attrition. It took them 10 years and the collapse of the Soviet Union to admit defeat in Afghanistan. Putin is also probably calling in favors from allies. Nobody makes a barrel bomb like the Syrian air force, and Iran can cover their backs if the Syrian military is called in to shore up Russian troops.
Second, that Putin wouldn't settle for seizing parts of Ukraine and declaring victory. If he can reduce enough of Ukraine to rubble and force them to cede territory (as Stalin did with Finland at the end of the Continuation War) then he can say he meant to do that all along. Even if such an arrangement isn't formalized the reality on the ground eventually becomes the accepted reality, regardless of how many other countries recognize the shift in borders in the short term. Russia has oil and gas. Putin can afford to be patient. His grip on power and the Russian media is firm.
But he's not a young man. He's almost 70. It's not clear who with succeed hm, as he has been pretty ruthless at eliminating rivals to power. Because of that if he were to be ousted in a coup or something it's not at all clear that the Russian Federation survives. It could fracture along any number of ethnic and cultural fault lines. Ukraine isn't the only part of the former soviet empire kept in the Russian orbit solely by fear.
We're in for a turbulent decade or so.
It is an opinion piece, and now you've given yours. Bringing Syrians in to help would be a huge signal of weakness at home and abroad. I think Putin's hold on power is threadbare at best and getting worse.
One, that Russia faces outright defeat in Ukraine. Incompetent or not, Russia still has vast military resources and can hang on a good long while in a war of attrition. It took them 10 years and the collapse of the Soviet Union to admit defeat in Afghanistan. Putin is also probably calling in favors from allies. Nobody makes a barrel bomb like the Syrian air force, and Iran can cover their backs if the Syrian military is called in to shore up Russian troops.
Second, that Putin wouldn't settle for seizing parts of Ukraine and declaring victory. If he can reduce enough of Ukraine to rubble and force them to cede territory (as Stalin did with Finland at the end of the Continuation War) then he can say he meant to do that all along. Even if such an arrangement isn't formalized the reality on the ground eventually becomes the accepted reality, regardless of how many other countries recognize the shift in borders in the short term. Russia has oil and gas. Putin can afford to be patient. His grip on power and the Russian media is firm.
But he's not a young man. He's almost 70. It's not clear who with succeed hm, as he has been pretty ruthless at eliminating rivals to power. Because of that if he were to be ousted in a coup or something it's not at all clear that the Russian Federation survives. It could fracture along any number of ethnic and cultural fault lines. Ukraine isn't the only part of the former soviet empire kept in the Russian orbit solely by fear.
