“On day one, he said that there should be a negotiated agreement to avoid war, because in the end, after months of fighting, thousands killed on both sides, the end will be predictable. Russian will retain Crimea, and gain the Eastern regions of Ukraine.”
What assinine reasoning. “Ok, I think they can win, so let’s give it up this time!” Two years hence, “Well, I thought they’d leave us alone, but I guess they would win, so let’s give them more land!”
I think you have to assume at the start, that Russia had issues with the status quo.
1. Biden pushing the threat of Ukraine joining Nato. You can argue all you want that Biden was speaking out of both sides of his mouth, ie behind the scenes he’s saying he would never allow them into Nato.
2. Ukrainian mafia, nazis et al reaping havoc on the Eastern Ukraine Russian communities.
Both issues could have been negotiated before any war. Trump certainly would have brokered a resolution to this before war. There’s also evidence that Russia and Ukraine did discuss these issues and talked about no war, BUT OUR GOV’T AND IT INCLUDES THE GOP, PUSHED FOR WAR.
IN summary, McGregor was right. This could have been totally avoided. Now the end will clearly be, when the fighting stops, Russia will hold Crimea and will gain the Eastern Provences.