What out is there to offer though? Ukraine isn't going to give up any territory.
No he couldn't have done it then because they were fighting under the guise of a military maneuver rather than a war. If he does state publicly that Russia are now at war then that does make the use of nuclear and chemical weapons more likely.
I have no idea. Probably let them have the Donbas region and keep Crimea. God knows though.
I fear you have quite a narrow and short sighted view of this.
Ukraine wouldn't accept that and so the West obviously shouldn't be telling them to.
The west could also stop supplying weapons to them. They have more leverage over Ukraine than you think. Not saying this would happen but I perhaps have much less trust in the western leadership and their motives than some.
If I die in a nuclear holocaust I'll make sure to think "B20 was right."
And they have no reason to stand back. Russia stopped the gas exports to Europe and therefore now has no leverage left to fight the economic war and force Europe to retreat.
I fear you are close to what Putin and his gang view as the "useful idiots" in the west. No offence meant. But shitting your pants every time the word nuclear is mentioned is precisely what they want to provoke. People lived under actual threat during the 60s and 80s , this is not even close.
I am perfectly content with shitting my pants at the thought of nuclear weapons being used. Any sane person would also feel the same. I say this as someone who also grew up in the 80's. I shat myself then too.
I don't say it because I'm advocating it. Far from it. I just don't trust our leaders as far as I could throw them.
I agree with the momentum shifting towards Ukraine but if I recall correctly even the Ukrainian military leadership themselves are saying this will at least drag on into 2023. I wouldn't be surprised if Putin can hold onto parts of the Donbas for a couple of years more.
Two effectively equal in raw strength superpowers diamterically opposed ideologically, heck of a lot more nukes than now, inherent belief in the Soviet leadership that NATO nuclear attack is question of when not if, geriatric Soviet leaders who died frequently ( before Gorbachov), which every time that happened induced fears within Politbureau that NATO will use the confusion and attack, and on top of that crappy early warning systems that brought war very close several times https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...petrov-the-man-who-saved-the-world-dies-at-77
I'm with you on that. Ukraine shouldn't be a logical reason to use nuclear weapons for either Russia (as it isn't a direct threat to their national survival) or NATO. But if Putin wants to wag the nuclear threat irrationality to get leverage, then it doesn't matter if the issue is Ukraine or something else, the other side needs to be unaffected by the threat. I say this as someone who would almost certainly die in the early stages of an all-out nuclear exchange.
What do you think the response will be? Nothing?
Zeihan says that the US is listening to all his calls and reading all his emails. He hasn't said who his sources are but he's a DC think tank guy.
