Zelensky’s statement accepting Ukraine neutrality and Russia’s that it is militarily focused on eastern Ukraine and not Kiev, signal there will be a negotiated end to the fighting involving a Ukrainian pledge not to join NATO, an in-place military armistice, and de facto partition of Ukraine between its Russian and Ukrainian speaking populations. Results:
Ukraine—reduced standards of living, damaged national identity, greater oligarchic corrupt control and weakened democracy.
The West and Russia—diminished trade and economic growth, long-term political and economic hostility, war as a constant background threat.
Russian people—reduced standard of living and cultural isolation.
American people—escalating military spending and out-of-control inflation.
Biden will look like a loser, Zelensky a blowhard, and Putin a winner.
If Biden, NATO, and Zelensky had offered to negotiate with Putin based on: Ukraine not joining NATO; internationally monitored referendum in Crimea; greater autonomy for the Donbass—they might have avoided war, and certainly gotten more than now.
Putin’s war achieved his goal of stopping NATO from reaching Russia’s border and creating a buffer zone in eastern Ukraine, as he did in Georgia. He will get away with targeting civilians, as Yeltsin and Putin did in Chechnya, because he won. He may have dreams of restoring Russia as an empire and regional power, but that was not his objective invading Ukraine. American mainstream media lied and built war hysteria, and Americans who fell for it should reflect. The only thing that can stop a negotiated settlement favorable to Putin is a recklessly aggressive move by Biden, such as acting on his desire to remove Putin from office.
Fire Ant Rebellion 