So give him what he wants?
Fuck that.
Putin is always gonna do his worst no matter what.
We saw that in Syria. Barrel bombing cities. We saw it in Grozny.
He's a bit more than a bully. He wipes out civilian population centres as a foundation of his strategies.
The reason you don't give a bully what he wants isn't that's it's unpalatable, it's that it rewards the behaviour and emboldens them.
If the Ukrainians are willing to keep fighting this guy then we give them every weapon - all the HIMARS - and all the intelligence we can.
Hand-wringing in the west is something he's counting on. He views it as a weakness.
Keep wrecking his tanks, keep blowing up his ammunition depots and command centres, and keep killing Russian soldiers. That's the only language he understands. That's his negotiation.
Two years from now it's Finland. Or you name it.
just how is Ukraine going to win the war? - lots of details please.or keep doing nothing so this murderous thug does it again and again
Giving him a pass is what happened in Georgia, in Chechnya, in Syria, in Ukraine, in Crimea. Giving him a pass while he bombed city after city, and killing countless civilians.
Giving him a pass when he murders people in London and in Berlin.
All he got was "Thanks for the cheap oil, Vlad."
It's what got us here. With his soldiers pillaging and raping their way through a peaceful country.
If only we were nicer to him though?
We should definitely keep trying that.
This isn't anyone's war but Putin's and it's anything but noble.
Nobody else wanted this war. Few even believed it was likely.
He alone wanted a war. He's got one. He should be made pay a price for it.
Keep talking about barrels tho.
Fucking barrels indeed.
if could be done and save lives and destruction I would support it. Ukraine would need to invade and defeat Russia. even getting the invaders back to the border wouldn't stop Putin attacking anywhere else.
the likely result would be a prelonged proxy war that could escalate into a much bigger conflict.
for comparision -
China has poor relations with most of its neighbours and many of its minority groups for generations. but outside their region their influence is still limited as it stands. until about 6 or 7 years ago China didn't even have an aircraft carrier.
the Americans and NATO actions destroyed Iraq and Libya, they invaded numerous other countries and embargoed Cuba which is no threat. they sold weapons to many including Saudi to kill Yemenis.
the US broke a nuclear treaty with Iran and supported Israel's human rights abuses and invasion of the West Bank for decades. the US broke international law on kidnapping and torture. the US even invaded Grenada to boost Reagan's approval rating.
and after all that they suffered no real consequences for their actions from the international community.
- big bullies get away with things all the time.