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Posted on 10/27/2026 7:07:39 AM PDT by MtnClimber
The Ukraine war’s mounting casualties, Western divisions, and dwindling prospects for victory make a negotiated peace increasingly urgent before the conflict spirals into an even greater catastrophe.
The Ukrainian Gordian Knot
After crossing with his army into Asia, Alexander the Great stopped at Gordium (in modern-day Turkey). He approached the famous Gordian knot—a tangled mass of bark tying an ox cart to a pole, so intricate and tight that no one could unravel it. When told that anyone who could untie the mess would rule all of Asia, Alexander simply pulled out his sword and cut through it—solving the problem and fulfilling the prophecy.
The Ukraine war may be our Gordian knot, but—in our current nuclear age—it is dangerous to cut rather than unravel it.
A European Stalingrad
No one knows exactly how many people have been killed in the Ukraine war, which has now lasted four years and eight months—longer than World War II in the Pacific, the American Civil War, or World War I. There is still no end in sight. Estimates of the human toll vary widely, since it is in the interest of both sides to exaggerate the losses of the enemy while underreporting their own casualties.
Nonetheless, most sources agree that more than half a million have died. Other estimates put the total fatalities closer to one million. At least another million and a half have been wounded or are missing. Some calibrate well over 30,000 total civilian deaths, the overwhelming majority of them Ukrainians. On average, well over 1,500 Ukrainians and Russians are being killed or wounded each day.
To outside observers, the war appears different from most other current armed conflicts, in which religion or ethnicity is the cause, or at least the force multiplier, of the conflict. Despite Ukrainian political independence
(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...
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VDH ping
How much of Ukraine do the Russians get to keep?
I think the lesson from much of the 20th century is that wars can stay small if you let them.
WWI could have been Austria vs Serbia. Who they heck cares? How bad would that have been? But it just escalated and escalated because other countries felt compelled to jump in.
WWII might well have been Hitler vs Stalin. Hey, maybe that would have been a good thing. Let them kill each other. The rest of the world could have armed up, learned about air power and armored movement, and might have discouraged a weakened Hitler from moving west. Would this have been worse than what actually happened? Probably not.
The Cold War politicized the whole third world. All of the “non-aligned” nations either aligned themselves with the US or with the USSR. That didn’t do anyone any favors.
We keep building up massive military conflicts because we are trying so darn hard not to have a massive military conflict.
Putin wants Ukraine? Why should I care? Anyone who think Putin (who cannot beat Ukraine) is going to invade Poland and Germany and fight a serious hot war against actual NATO forces, is an idiot. If the world had ignored Ukraine, fewer people would be dead, and the whole thing would be over.
Eventually, all of it. Putin and Zelenskyy are both willing to fight to the last Ukrainian.
Any talk of Western negotiations with Putin is declared proof of appeasement or collaboration, even though the Obama Left gave us the “Russian reset” of 2009 as what it claimed was the only sensible way to deal with the prior Russian invasion of Georgia.
The Right, too, damns the idea of Trump meeting with Putin, even though Ronald Reagan met with the Soviet dictator when the USSR had thousands of nuclear weapons targeting the United States.
After October 7, the West pressed Israel constantly on issues of “proportionality,” “negotiations,” and “collateral damage”—not to mention new elections—but such vocabulary is absent from discussions of the far more lethal Ukraine war.
Another excellent article from Prof Hanson.
FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR
Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall
American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness
His website: Victor Davis Hanson The Sword of Perseus
One of his sponsors' website: The Daily Signal
Please let me know if you want on or off this new VDH ping list.
As a reminder, Professor Hanson has asked that we do not post the full article of his writings. Thank you for following the link to finish his article.
Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience.
'In February 2022, Vladimir Putin planned to decapitate Ukraine with a lightning strike on Kyiv, thereby bringing the entire country within days into his envisioned new Russian empire. That operation, reminiscent of the “Thunder Runs” to capture Baghdad in 2003 with a shock-and-awe wave, utterly failed in the face of remarkable Ukrainian courage and savvy.'
'Russian strategy, by contrast, aims at hitting more civilian targets in Ukraine to kill enough noncombatants to demoralize the population.'
'given that Putin’s ultimate agenda is to absorb all the former Soviet republics either by outright conquest or through puppet governments, and so to claim a status like Peter the Great’s by restoring millions of new “Russians” to the current shrinking Russian Federation.'
Putin will draft all the males into the army, like he did in the conquered areas, and we will face this massive new army across the Polish and Baltic borders
This war has been going on for 56+ months already (= 1710 days, = 41,000 hrs.)
In all that time, the Russian front has moved a mere 100 miles from Russia’s 2022 border
* So, the average rate of advance =
100 mi. / 41,000 hrs. = 0.0024 mph = 12.8 ft. / hr.
That’s pathetic
Russia has NO chance of getting all of Ukraine, Pootin will be dead long before that ever happens! (lol)
Russia will not quit it.
“a negotiated peace” has always been the only option.
But Money Grubbing Globalists can’t give up the Grift.
Russia had a valid, freely-signed Peace Treaty *still in effect in Feb. 2022*, when Russia illegally attacked & invaded Ukraine without any provocation
How can you make a deal with a country like Russia that doesn’t even keep its given word?
Except the only negotiated peace that Putin will accept is complete Ukrainian surrender, which obviously the Ukrainians will not agree to. The idea that this war is being driven by western “globalists” rather than Putin is ridiculous.
🚨BREAKING: Finland's President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre held a joint call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin today as part of international efforts to secure an end to the war in Ukraine.
There appears to be a crack in the EU.
There is no chance for a massive Russian army facing Poland and the Baltics. Russia is too weak, Putin is too old, and I find it ridiculous that a country that couldn’t even take down Ukraine in almost five years is somehow supposed to be a threat to NATO! Poland alone would seriously mess up Russia, and the only real blade in Russia’s arsenal is fear of their nuclear weapons.
That’s it.
Russia has proven itself to be a paper tiger (albeit one with a nuclear trump card), and the Russian threat is an illusion.
If it is not, then why are they still struggling to crawl faster than a snail’s pace? Actually, slower than a snail’s pace!
There was a time Russia seemed powerful. The ‘second most powerful military power’ on the planet. Well, Ukraine put that to the test, and the ‘mighty’ Russian army has been shown to be incompetent, unprepared, badly led, badly provisioned, and (simply put) inferior.
For a ‘massive new army’ to threaten Poland and the Baltics, it would have to first cross the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine. So far, Putin’s best have not been able to even get to the western bank of the Dnipro river. A river! Ukraine has fended them off for years.
Russia’s army is a useless third rate power that has most of its shine revealed as rust, and the only reason it’s not a total dud is the possible threat of nukes. Putin has cost his country a lot of blood (and treasure), and while some in this site hate President Zelenskyy, the fact remains that he has shown Putin to be weak (Wagner Group almost overthrew him in June 2023) and the Russian army to be mostly ineffective.
There is no massive Russian army threatening Poland or the Baltics.
Let Russia first defeat Ukraine …or even cross the Dnipro river …and then we can discuss how the big bad bear will mess up the West.
…they maybe can mess the West through batches of bad vodka, a buffet with rotten borscht, or a bar of loose Russian women, but definitely NOT through their military. Let them first achieve a simple river crossing and then we can worry about threats from Russia.
It is a phantom power.
I 100% agree-—The mighy Russian Bear has proven to be a small panda.
The Zeepers are paid to be here and fight a losing battle.
Serious people understand that Putin is not a serious threat to the West.
“How much of Ukraine do the Russians get to keep?”
We don’t know yet.
The Russian stooges are here only to deliberately disrupt, lie, and spread their propaganda
Anyone with even half a brain can see that Pootin and Russia are a menace to all the World!
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