https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/feb/6/risk-of-uncontrolled-escalation-inches-nearer-in-u/Risk of uncontrolled escalation inches nearer in Ukraine warBy Brandon J. Weichert - - Monday, February 6, 2023
For those hoping for a negotiated settlement to end the war in Ukraine, forget it. The conflict that has raged for a year has entered its terminal phase. The Ukrainians have done a gallant job of resisting the initial invasion. Now, however, Moscow has fully mobilized at the precise moment that NATO‘s critical stockpiles of weapons and Ukraine‘s forces are wearing down.
Plus, Russia’s leadership has made it clear that they view this struggle against Ukraine as an existential fight — not only for the survival of the autocratic regime of Vladimir Putin but for the continued existence of Russia as a unified nation-state itself.
NATO only gets more desperate with each moment that passes in Ukraine. In its desperation, the risk of uncontrolled escalation inches nearer — which may involve nuclear weapons. What a switch from just six months ago, when it truly looked like it was Russia that might end up losing and collapsing in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance.
Had the West had real statesmen in charge as opposed to the lot of childlike, ideological lunatics, a negotiated settlement that split Ukraine in half might have been brokered. Time would have been bought for NATO to restore its spent arsenals and for Ukraine to reestablish sensible defensive perimeters around the core of that nation. And Mr. Putin just might have been overthrown for having failed to knock out the U.S.-backed government in Kyiv.
But that window has closed.
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