Quote:
An existential choice faces Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine. It is perhaps the worst choice facing any head of state in the world—between capitulation before Russian President Vladimir Putin and continued resistance to the Russian invasion. If Zelensky chooses the former, there is no guarantee—or even a realistic hope—that any agreement to end hostilities will be honored a minute longer than Putin finds convenient. On the other hand, continued resistance guarantees that many more Ukrainians—military and civilian—will die and many more cities and towns will be reduced to rubble, even if victory (whatever that looks like) is achieved eventually.
What is the rationale for carrying on? First and most important: nothing Putin says can be trusted. Since the entire Russian campaign is founded on lies, ceding territory in the east will make Putin hungrier for more—and even all—of Ukraine.
I still disagree. It would not be “capitulation” for Zelensky to make concessions in negotiations - it would be the rational, sane thing to do.
Ceding a couple of Ukrainian territories is a far cry from ceding Europe to Hitler.
To continue escalating the war, at the cost of thousands of more lives, and the destruction of the worlds economy, just on an assumption that Putin can’t be trusted to keep his side of an agreement, is reckless and irresponsible.
Zelensky - brave fearless leader or not - only continues to fight because we continue funding him, rather than making a serious attempt at de-escalation and negotiation.
Meanwhile, as Ukraine and world economies collapse, we inch closer to nuclear war, and Russia is pushed towards an alliance with China, who is gearing up to attack both Taiwan and the U.S.
Also not to mention that someone mentioned in a video (I forgot which one) mentioned that Zelensky failed to follow the Minsk agreement:
Yes, I remember hearing or reading that, too.
The U.S. has also meddled in it, too, with its regime change operations, etc.
Minsk I failed, Minsk II failed, but a third agreement will definitely succeed?
I think it could if the U.S. enforced it, and then stayed out of Ukraine, instead of meddling in their affairs and “leading them down the primrose path” as Mearsheimer called it.