[Alas Babylon!]

It’s a WWI style trench warfare stalemate. No one on either side is breaking thru like a panzer blitzkreig. That bird has flown.

I do agree that Russia can keep the pressure on Ukraine for far longer than Ukraine can find men to defend itself, but that is still years away at this pace.

Putin does have a lot to lose—mostly human beings and a huge, hefty economic price.

I think Trump’s offer to let them keep the lands they occupy, and end US sanctions is a good deal for Putin that he’ll take.

[icclearly]

Putin does have a lot to lose—mostly human beings and a huge, hefty economic price.

He's got more to lose if he lets NATO take over Ukieland and put missiles right on his border. You know. Like we stood up and drew the line when them Ruskies placed missiles 90 miles away from us in Cuba. What did we do? We invaded (a failure) and embargoed Cuba, met the Rusikies and made ready to blow up the planet.

You lose lives in wars. That's the way it works. From all indications, the Russians are losing much less than the Ukrainians. That's how wars of attrition work.

As for economic prices, have you seen pictures of life in Moscow and St. Petersburg? They sure don't look downtrodden and in the dumps to me either.

Oh yeah. One other point. In case you missed it the chart below for Ruskie GDP sure don't look like no collapse to me.

Russia GDP growth for all of 2024 = 4.5%. USA 2024 GDP growth = 2.3%.

Go figure.