It is time for some hard questions!

A fiery end to escalation? vcp

Fiery conviction with no substance?
Do Western leaders know what they doing, or have they just become delirious on a cocktail of self-righteous moralism and power, stumbling along into an unforeseeable but dangerous future. Their shrill voices filled with passion for Ukraine and hate of Russia drowning out warning voices.
 
Have they ever taken the time to sit down and reflect upon what they are doing, or are they too busy flitting to and from summits meant to demonstrate their unison conviction?
 
Caught in vortex of a proxy crusade?
Will the West do what it takes for as long as it takes, albeit hesitantly and with delays, to help Ukraine defeat the Russian forces and get back all of what they regard as Ukrainian land, even Crimea?

Have Western leaders, at first dipping very cautiously into their arsenals, lost all sense of caution, lured by their own superficial moralistic idealism and the terrible plight of Ukraine?

Will the West continue to pour tanks, jets and long-range missiles into Ukraine, accepting the Ukrainian argument that more weapons will help save lives? Ignoring that nothing the West has done until now has helped to save lives, au contraire.
 
Is Russia and the West caught in a spiralling vortex of continuous escalation? What is next, if Leopards and even fighter jets are not enough? Surreptitiously inserting Western “boots on the ground” to stiffen Ukrainian resistance?
 
How would/could the West react if China decided to help a Russia in dire straits? Supplying weapons or material for making weapons to enable Russia to continue the War? Would the West get in a reciprocal sanctioning regime with China, or try to threaten China in other ways. Risking the creation of an almighty Eurasian Russian-Chinese power.
 
Might the lid be blown off Pandora’s box and release its curses on the whole of human kind, by simple incidents like Russian missiles landing in a NATO country, Russia shooting down a U.S. surveillance plane or something else reminding one of “Princip’s shots in Sarajevo.”?
 
Simplistic views of the endgame
What is the West hoping to achieve, a defeated Russia, perhaps even warlike dissolution? Or a Russia getting even more allied to China? Is that something Europe could want? Would that not be a real nightmare on its doorstep?
 
Shouldn’t we at least demand some sort idea of what the West want to achieve, instead of leaving it to Zelensky to decide what the West wants? In all seriousness, will Europe really leave it to Zelensky and a vengeful Biden to decide to escalate the proxy war against Russia and decide the conditions for making peace with Russia?

Or will Western decision makers (not the least the Europeans) come to their senses and realise that they have to demand something from Ukraine? Perhaps even accept something one might call a “Korean solution”? Not peace, but not War either. A divided country with a DMZ (demilitarised zone). Not the best of all worlds, but some alternatives certainly sound worse and the risk is certainly there.
 
Is Ukraine worth it? A question that really would irk moralistic proponents of giving Ukraine everything they demand. One might even ask, is it worth it for Ukraine itself? Losing more than 100.000 dead or wounded? And be subject to enormous destruction everywhere?
 
Is Biden promising more than he can deliver? In Kyiv he recently said: “You [President Zelensky] remind us that freedom is priceless; it’s worth fighting for as long as it takes. And that’s how long we’re going to be with you, Mr. President: for as long as it takes. “
Big words, but the U.S. might get tired in its proxy war against Russia and lose popular support? Leaving Ukraine to the fight its own hopeless fight?
 
If U.S. support petered out, it would leave Europe with destroyed Ukraine and a belligerent Russian neighbour. Is Europe prepared for that?  
 
A cocky West risking nuclear war?
Smelling the growing weakness of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine there is no end to the spiralling self-confidence and self-righteousness of Western leaders out to humiliate Putin and Russia. What would happen if Russia faced defeat of all Russians troops in Ukraine, and a Ukrainian re-conquering of Russian held areas,
 
Would an imminent risk of this happening provoke Russia to nuclear escalation in order to force the West to de-escalate? Russian certainly has the enough tactical nuclear weapons to make that a possibility.
 
How would/could the West respond? In kind, with just updated nuclear bombs in European storage? Or an all-out conventional attack on the Russian bases. Risking in both scenarios a Third World War.
 
Do we really believe in Stoltenberg’s constantly reiterated conviction: “a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought? Do we trust that secret U.S. counterthreats will make Russian use of nuclear weapons unlikely? Do we trust that the Chinese warnings against a nuclear war will hold back the Russians? Maybe the sanguine attitude of today’s leaders is a consequence of having no experience of the risks involved in nuclear brinkmanship?
 
Losing sight of other problems?
One might also ask if Western leaders are too concentrated on Ukraine, ignoring other massive problems and crises in the world at their own peril? Crises that may pop up “with a vengeance.”
 
In the Middle East Iran seems close to having weapons grade nuclear material. Will they be allowed to get the bomb? And if they do, how will Israel and the West react to Iranian threats?
 
Will China just continue to harass Taiwan, squeeze it with a blockade or invade, while US is occupied elsewhere?
 
Will we see a hegemonic struggle with West against the Rest in large parts of the World?
With Western ideas and values coming under threat in parts of the World observing the West concentrating on the Ukraine conflict, while ignoring deadly conflicts elsewhere.
 
How will the West handle its own set of problems? Their internal political divisions and conflicts. In relation to an influx of migrants from other parts of the World, leading over time to a “browning” of the White West. In relation to identity politics and woke ideology, accompanied by vocal attacks on the West’s own history. The history that founded Western success and hegemony.
 
Deceived by simple minded media agitation?
Have biased and simpleminded western media, breathless with breaking news and latest reports from reporters stumbling through rubble in their attempt to show the terrible plight of Ukrainians, lit a dangerous simple minded furious and self-righteous fire in the minds of Western leaders, and the majority of the public?

Where do we find the media holding power to account by asking difficult questions? What are the risks, what is the endgame, do we really want to defeat Russia, and live with the fear of their reaction? Are we far too willingly to participate in a what has become essentially a U.S. proxy war against Russia?
 
Is there not something  vaguely  irresponsible about the shrill support of the war in Ukraine, with Ukraine is carrying out the fight and ruining their country?

Western media in their one-sided enthusiasm for Ukraine seems caught in a self-reinforcing vortex. Where does wary public, subject to a both one-sighted and short-sighted media bombardment, find a discussion of the really difficult questions?
 
Almost unthinkable
Suppose the war in Ukraine ends with some with a victory over Russians troops, a Korean like DMZ-solution, or the West tiring of Ukrainian demands, forcing Ukraine to seek humiliating peace.
What will the West do in relation to Russia?
Continue attempts to isolate Russia, arming the West and live with a hostile Russia on its Borders?
Or, strange thought in today’s climate, scale down sanctions, promise investments and trade in exchange for weapons limitations. With the Europeans trying to get Russia somehow into the fold of Europe, ... and sacrilege, promising to dissolve NATO and create a new European security architecture in exchange for disarmament guarantees.
 
 
Selected essays on the war in Ukraine:
 
08/02/23 “Korean solution” to the war in Ukraine?
To understand the need for negotiation now it might be worthwhile to read the recent RAND Corporation Perspective “Avoiding a Long War.”
https://wahrnehmungen.weebly.com/blog/korean-solution-to-the-war-in-ukraine?
 
03/02/23 Realism disappearing down the Ukrainian maelstrom
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin on support for Ukraine: We're going to continue to dig deep.
https://wahrnehmungen.weebly.com/blog/realism-disappearing-down-the-ukrainian-maelstrom
 
27/09/22 A grim spectre rears its ugly head
President Putin and President Biden are playing a passionate and dangerous game of chicken.
https://wahrnehmungen.weebly.com/blog/a-grim-spectre-rears-its-ugly-head
 
11/07/22 WHY is passion drowning out realism in Ukraine war?
https://wahrnehmungen.weebly.com/blog/why-is-passion-drowning-out-realism-in-ukraine-war?
 
25/04/22 Spellbound by The Pied Piper of Kyiv’s magic Newspeak
Yes! We are all (most) ready to follow you with the weapons for peace, even though the piper may harm and disappoint us.
https://wahrnehmungen.weebly.com/blog/april-17th-2022Paragraph.