Subject: Re: Let’s See If This Pans Out for Putin
What might be the best way or two to end the war?

Putin could end the war tomorrow by withdrawing his invading army from Ukraine.

Zelensky could do the same by surrendering

Neither is going to happen.

Nor will Trump win his peace prize, especially after that backfired publicity stunt in Alaska.

The war will go on. Autocrats who invade other countries and engage in civilian slaughter must be stopped, not catered to.


Looks like the world is going to have to learn that lesson all over again.

But- Putin isn’t looking so hot. Even in Russia, this is “Putin’s war”. If he goes, it’s doubtful thAt a successor would willingly hang that albatross around his own neck.

The war was a huge miscalculation on Putin’s part. But now he’s stuck with it and his own survival depends upon winning. He’s not about to settle for any compromise that doesn’t allow him to refit, rearm and go at it again- soon.

Our best bet for peace is to continue arming Ukraine. Peace will come when the last Russian troops leave the Donbas and Crimea, and not before. Anything short of that simply allows Putin to prepare his armed forces for another go at it.

Of course, Putin doesn’t look so good, and rumors swirl about his health. Not that we can pin our hopes on that, but with his death will come a huge deflation in the will to keep fighting in Ukraine. Not that there aren’t similar Russian authoritarian nationalists with similar warped views about Russian “destiny” in Eurasia…. but the war has drained Russia, and it’s doubtful that a successor would attempt to build his own legacy by picking up a failed war and running with it.