No. of Recommendations: 16
So you and the others are adopting the European strategy: don’t look for ways to end the war, just keep sending them guns.
We're looking for ways for Ukraine to win the war. Not end it just for the sake of ending it by letting Russia successfully steal Ukrainian territory...and if they get to do that, eventually destroy Ukraine as a country.
It's easy to end a war by surrendering. But Russia has committed a great wrong. Ukraine did nothing to Russia, but Russia invaded by force killing lots of Ukrainians and stealing their land. That is a horrific - I daresay evil - thing to do. It would be a terrible outcome if they were allowed to keep what they stole.
We send them guns so that they can defeat Russia. They won't defeat Russia by physically driving them from the territory - they will defeat Russia by defending their land indefinitely, so that it becomes unavoidably in Russia's best interest to withdraw rather than fight forever.
The way to end the war is to persuade Russia that Ukraine (and the West) will never stop fighting. The European strategy is exactly that - make it clear and unambiguous that support for Ukraine will continue unstopped until Russia leaves the country.
It's the argument that you're advancing that ends up prolonging the war. As long as Russia believes there might come a day when the West gives up on Ukraine, they have incentive to keep the war going. The only way they can win is if the "let's just give up" faction prevails in the West. So far, thankfully, it hasn't - and the argument you're making that there's no way to avoid an inevitable Russian win has not gained much traction in the West. I fervently hope that remains the case, so that the war can end with the evil actors being defeated, rather than triumphing.
