What a silly claim, and how much are you going to put where your mouth is? When is anything current Ukrainian president/government promised going to happen? Any timelines on the bridge, Crimea, or 1991 borders? Any bets on how long that UA law about no negotiations with Putin will stand? Bottom line is Russia continues to take more land everyday, and the only comeback to that is, why so slow?
Why so slow, or....
Russia was so confident that they'd be able to steam roll Ukraine, take Kyiev, kill Zelensky, etc. that before they invaded in Feb, they had already planned a parade for that May and even packed special uniforms to wear in the parade.
They even made it illegal to call it a war. It was just a special operation. No big deal. The global general consensus was maybe it would take 3 weeks for Kiev to fall, probably two though.
Imagine if you could go back in time and tell Russians that in 2024, Putin would travel to North Korea to beg for weapons and rumors of a second mobilization were starting to spread
In Kyiv on May 9 2022, a traditional parade will be held in honor of the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany. It is naive and foolish to doubt it.
What do you think he would say^^^^
How confident are you that when US staged coup detat/regime change in Ukraine that they just didn't know that it would breach on Russia's national interests, and they just miscalculated? Or do you think they knew pretty well what they were doing by giving out cookies and saying Fuck the EU, and this is all is just a collateral damage in a bigger plan?
You mean exactly the same reasons why US and NATO didn't call any of their military "operations" wars, in the past 60 years?
If Cuba was an existential threat to US, Ukraine is definitely an existential threat to Russia. Russia loosing Ukraine would follow with a loss of Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus... Without it's sphere of influence, it would seize to be a regional power and would collapse once again.
Imagine if you could travel back in time to Ukraine in 2013 when everything was fine and educate these people about the Judas kiss and tell them not to accept these cookies. How many Ukrainians would you save by not sending them to be pawns in a larger global conflict?
...
Re Zelensky's "political suicide", the person is not that relevant. A true peace that leaves Ukraine with means of defence and most of the territory intact, with access to sea, is not ideal, but there is still a country named "Ukraine" with all the means required to be a viable nation.
Again, peace itself is desirable, but the question is what peace. A good peace gets statues of Zelensky in the city square and peace for decades, a bad peace gets you another war in 5 years.
Re Zelensky's "political suicide", the person is not that relevant. A true peace that leaves Ukraine with means of defence and most of the territory intact, with access to sea, is not ideal, but there is still a country named "Ukraine" with all the means required to be a viable nation.
Again, peace itself is desirable, but the question is what peace. A good peace gets statues of Zelensky in the city square and peace for decades, a bad peace gets you another war in 5 years.
Can't say i'm surprised that you won't put your money where you mouth is. But really nice to see you start accepting the reality and pivoting from "1991 borders". Now comes the hard part, do you really think that such end result for Ukraine, couldn't be reached without loosing so many Ukrainian lives? What do you think was in that written response in 2021 before all this started? Would you want Russia to declassify and publicize it?
The United States has delivered a written response to Russia addressing Moscow’s security demands, Secretary of State Antony
January 2021
Blinken announced on Wednesday, as Washington continues to pursue diplomacy aimed at diverting a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine.
...
U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan delivered to Moscow, was “fully coordinated” with Ukraine and European allies, Blinken said, and it “sets out a serious diplomatic path forward, should Russia choose it.”
January 2021
Blinken announced on Wednesday, as Washington continues to pursue diplomacy aimed at diverting a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine.
...
U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan delivered to Moscow, was “fully coordinated” with Ukraine and European allies, Blinken said, and it “sets out a serious diplomatic path forward, should Russia choose it.”