So where’s the off-ramp?
The dignified way Russia exits the war, getting some of its objectives in exchange. Regardless of who was at fault, the war needs to end.
There’s a point when a boxer wants to fight on, but his team throw in the towel and end the fight because they know he’ll lose, and if it continues, he could be seriously damaged, or killed.
The West needs to pull back and concede Ukraine cannot join NATO or the EU. That is the price for saving Ukraine.
Truth is, the West would rather Ukraine be destroyed than back down.
The West doesn’t itself want to stop this war, even though they know Ukraine is seriously damaged and could be destroyed. Instead, they encourage Ukraine to fight on.
When I read law at Oxford, we were taught that to resolve conflict, you must lower the temperature.
Anyone who increases the temperature, by saying things like “Putin doesn’t know what is coming for him” (Biden) and providing weapons to Ukraine (West), to see if they can prolong the war and topple Putin, is not serious about resolving conflict. And the West isn’t. They are gaming this. They are trying to show people they are doing something to help, but it’s fake help.
Nothing the West has done is actually designed to stop the war.
The actions of the West are to punish, provoke and raise the temperature.
First, Western propaganda is at hysterical anti-Russian levels. Putin is sick, mad or Hitler. News like Ukraine discriminating against Africans trying to escape and the African Union’s condemnation of Ukraine citing international law breaches are buried. (They forget, historically, Russia has been a better friend to Africa than the West)
That Ukraine blocked the water supply to Crimea, contributing to war, is buried. That NATO dangled membership to Ukraine after committing to Russia that it wouldn’t expand is ignored (note when Russia tried to put a military base on Cuba, America objected and they withdrew).
Second, the international proceedings, including potential war crimes are in stark contrast to the free pass the West got during its many illegal wars.
Third, the sanctions the West imposed on Russia are designed to savage ordinary people and pressure leaders. But sanctions often make revolution less likely. The West will happily destroy millions of lives to hurt one man. The collective punishment of civilians using brutal sanctions is barbaric.
The war provides an excuse to raid Russian oligarchs for their billions. Most had nothing to do with the war and had to befriend Putin for self-preservation. There is no due process. Just racial profiling. Rich Russians are punished. That’s like punishing Zuckerberg or Bezos for the actions of the American government.
Fourth, weapons won’t help Ukraine win, they will prolong the war, give false hope and cause more death, because Russia will escalate in response.
Fifth, the West has shown no interest in any serious negotiations with Russia, rather it appears to be using Ukraine to game the situation for its own interests.
It costs the West nothing to say, look, this has gone too far, we are not going to admit Ukraine into NATO or the EU, in exchange, stop the war immediately and we’ll honour our promise not to expand.
If the West, America, put egos aside and seriously offers to settle with Russia, and Russia does not accept, then the offer is rejected and the West aren’t bound by it.
If the offer stops the war, the West will look great globally and win friends. The bigger person. The world will sigh in relief and pick up the pieces.
What the West should not do, is dump it on proud Ukrainians to concede they won’t join NATO. They need to make this easier and do it for them. Truth is, this fight was never about Ukraine. It was always about Russia and America.
The West need to throw in the towel before Russia kills Ukraine over them. Until then, every life is also on them.
To quote Nelson Mandela, “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world it is the United States of America, they don’t care about human beings.”
America effected regime change in Ukraine in 2014, overthrowing a pro-Russian president. They then expanded NATO in breach of the undertaking to Russia and played proxy wars with Ukraine. If America cares about human beings. Prove the great man wrong and pull back. If they don’t, let his words be written in stone.