Blessed Are The Peacmakers

It will all be over tomorrow if Putin orders his troops to go home today.

What is Plan B?

You're looking at it.

So Putin is going to have a come-to-Jesus moment and just end it? Not likely. How about a more realistic plan?

You're looking at it. We keep shredding through their armies and crippling their economy until they stop.

How long will it take? How much will it cost? How many young men will have to die?

Ask Putin. It's entirely his decision.

What if Putin is ousted and someone even worse leads Russia? What if the war escalates and goes nuclear? Shouldn't someone attempt peace talks?

Then someone other than Putin can be responsible for Russia losing population and economic power. It's more of a risk for whoever replaces Putin than it is for us.

I'm not joking: giving up on the war in Ukraine is the best thing FOR RUSSIA at this this point. Save the lives. Save the money. Get back to trading with the West. It is the best move Putin OR his replacement can make.

What is the logic behind being so afraid of what might happen next that we'll give rewards to someone who isn't even winning the war? What kind of precedent is THAT going to set? What kind of goodies are we going to throw at Iran if they start picking fights with their neighbors that they won't win?

Please study the Treaty of Versailles and post-WWI. Humiliating Russian is a very bad idea. They have nukes. The good guy, bad guy paradigm is flawed. Don't underestimate the danger.

Moralizing and binary thinking are not very useful. Demonizing Putin is also useless. Why are no Western leaders looking for a way out of this? Writing Ukraine a blank check with no timeline is repeating history. How did Iraq and Afghanistan work out? Don't forget Vietnam. Russia is bigger and has nukes. Surely anyone can see how dangerous this situation is.

Fine, we won't humiliate them in the peace treaty. I mean that, status quo ante bellum is FINE by me - I don't mind that outcome AT ALL.

BUT FIRST, THEY HAVE TO GO HOME!!!!!!!!

That's Putin's decision to make and his alone. He CANNOT acheive peace by being given rewards for a war he did not win - that does not make sense at all. I don't care how many nukes he has, he can't be given an entire country for a war he did not win - that's Munich level nonsense, seeing as you're such a history buff.

I never said to give Russia Ukraine. Maybe start with diplomacy and broker a cease-fire.

OH MY GOD! what an incredible idea, literally nobody's thought of that. You're an incredible genius.

OK, so we've come back from trying to implement your idea. Putin refuses to agree to a cease-fire unless we all recognize his claims on Ukrainian territory (basically, he wants us all to say that he won). This is of course silly, but then he said well, no ceasefire.

It's your plan. You came up with this idea. I thought I'd come to you for what the next move should be. What now?