Subject: Re: Let’s See If This Pans Out for Putin
To your credit, you’re the only person on the board willing to put American troops into this. That’s at least a firm stance on an option that helps win the fight.

A little more nuanced than that.

I said Zelensky would be crazy to sign a deal that turned over 20% of his country to Russia, along with its defensive lines that have proven to be such a thorn in the side to Russian troops.

I then said that if circumstances forced him to sign such a deal, he should demand, as a precondition, that a division from each NATO country (ok- a battalion from the smaller countries) be placed directly on or immediately behind the new line of control.

If NATO is going to serve as a guarantor, then let us be exactly that-guarantors in a real sense, not simply signatories on a document filled with flowery verbiage.

France, Germany, Spain, England, the US….send your divisions. Denmark and the rest- send your battalions. Step up to the tripwire. Those NATO states that border Russia? You’re already on the front, so stay put.

My primary hesitation about such a plan????

If I was Zelensky, I’d be worrying that I’d be getting the US First Cav or 10th Mountain about the same time that E. Jean Carroll gets her settlement.

That’s why the troops in place would have to be a precondition for the deal to be finalized.

No troops? Only promises? no deal. Show me the money.

And of course, that’s why Donald Trump would not sign on to a deal that demanded he do more than blow smoke.