What might be the best way to end the war in Ukraine (that I can see)

 C'mere. Siddown.  I've got something to say.

One person has accused me of siding with Putin.  And that's one person too many.

To this person and others who think that of me: "***** you".  Because I am the FURTHEST thing from being a Putin apologist.

NOBODY'S hands are clean in this affair.  Not Russia.  Not Ukraine (as much as many of us want to believe otherwise) and not the United States.  We are involved too.  We sent a LOT of money and war materiel to Ukraine, and it's been questionable whether it was used by that country to fight Russia or if it was diverted and sold to other interests.  It's quite possible that some of the arms we sent wound up in the hands of drug cartels in Latin America.  I love the people of Ukraine, but the matter remains that they allowed their country to be one of the most corrupt in Europe and ultimately that's on them.

What do I think the U.S. should have done?  America should have led international sanctions against Russia.  In time I believe those would have had an effect.  Russia isn't playing nice by the rules of polite international behavior and they should suffer for that.

But that is not what we did.

Ukraine is not Afghanistan.  Afghanistan has defeated invaders for thousands of years.  It is perhaps the worst geography on Earth for an army to come in and try to control.  Alexander of Macedonia learned this.  So did the Soviets.  And in time so did America.  During the Afghanistan conflict with the invading Russian the U.S. did provide the Afghans with Stinger missiles, among other things.  In time that aid did did compel the Soviets to give up and go home.  But the Afghans had the layout of the land, the mountains of their home turf, on their side.  There is no such advantage that Ukraine has.

If we try to do with Ukraine what we did with Afghanistan, we are going to widen the war into something beyond the confines of Eastern Europe.  Zelensky came to the Oval Office yesterday and made clear his ultimate demand: that American armed forces and personnel be brought into Ukraine.  And that would be a terrible, terrible mistake for us to commit.  If we did that we would be turning Ukraine it into a quagmire far worse than Vietnam was.  And this time there will be a belligerent with his finger on a nuclear button.

What do *I* see in these circumstances?  What does Chris Knight the American citizen, the historian, the man just trying to do the right thing, perceive in this matter?

The last thing that Robert Christopher Knight wants to see is any one die.  Scrape everything else away from him and that's what you're left with.  And right now I don't see Ukraine's leadership being serious about that.

So it's left to a third party, someone other than the two sides in the conflict, to try to negotiate something. Right now the best party to do that is the United States.

There are three suggestions I would make, if anyone's interested...

1.  The U.S. and Ukraine should agree to the minerals deal.  The one that was about to be signed yesterday before the dipolomacy fell apart with all the world to see.  Enacting the minerals agreement would result in an active American presence in Ukraine *without* bringing United States armed forces into the war.  Russia would hesitate - and tremendously so - to endanger lives of American civilians.

2.  Work out a deal between Russia and Ukraine to end hostilities.  End armed conflict.  Stop the killing, by both sides.  They have each drawn blood.    Ukraine has also, by way of its drone aircraft.

3.  Negotiate the borders between Russia and Ukraine.  There are many areas in Ukraine that are ethnic Russian and have long expressed a desire to be within Russia.  If Putin wants to prove that he's true to his word he will agree to annex these areas.  But Russia is going to have to give over some territory to Ukraine also.

I have never been a fan of Putin.  I think he is a despicable excuse of a supposed leader.  His soul is a dark one, no matter how much George W. Bush looked into his eyes and claimed to see a good man.  Putin wants a return of the old Soviet empire.  He has never stopped being KGB at heart.  The day he finally dies will be a good one for the world, unless he repents of his wrongdoing and tries to make right what he has done.  But that's between him and God.

But neither have I been a wholehearted fan of sending hundreds of billions of American dollars - that we can't really afford - to Ukraine, without accountability for how it's being used.  Zelensky is not the squeaky clean leader of his country that many of us want to believe he is.  He did not come into office honestly and he has demonstrated many times that he turns a blind eye to the corruption in Ukraine.

So what are we to do?

The three suggestions I just made, provided that the United States pushes them forward, is the best alternative to prolonging the war that I can see.  It's NOT perfect.  It's NOT what either Ukraine or America wants.  In a perfect world Russia would be forced to withdraw and have to make reparations.  But it's not a perfect world and the United States did play a part in exacerbating the situation.

That's the best deal that I see us making that will end the war and stop the killing.  It's the only thing I can imagine will finally end this conflict.

But don't ANYONE dare declare that I'm a supporter of Putin.  Because that only demonstrates how much of a fool that person is.

Just my .02

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I watched the meeting between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky

And I mean I watched the entire meeting, not just the final ten minutes that descended into diplomatic chaos.

(Here it is if you want to see it for yourself.)

The war in Ukraine is perhaps the damndest Gordian Knot of foreign relations that I've seen in my lifetime.  I am and always have been against Russia's aggression into what should be a sovereign nation recognized as such by all.  I despise Russian dictator Vladamir Putin as much as anyone can.  The sooner he dies or is somehow overthrown will be a happy day for the world.  He had no right to plan and execute the invasion of Ukraine.

But what can be done about that?  More to the point, what should the role of the United States be?  We've already given hundreds of billions of dollars in funding and war materiel to Ukraine.

It's now an open and very serious question: what has become of all of that support that our politicians in the past few years have cheerfully given Ukraine?

Russia isn't going to withdraw from Ukraine while Putin sits in the Kremlin.  It's doubtful that if and when the war ends that Russia is going to cede over the territory they've won back to Ukraine.

I believe that President Trump is trying to make the best of the situation in the best interest of America: end the war and stop the loss of life.

Back to the matter of yesterday's meeting between Trump and Zelensky and their respective delegations in the Oval Office...

For the first forty minutes things are going as well as this kind of thing could.  Trump is being very gracious to his guest.  In fact, it could even be said that things are going in Zelensky's favor.  And then right around the forty minutes mark Vice-President J.D. Vance breaks in from where he's been sitting and brings up what is, I think so anyway, a good point: that on Joe Biden's watch the official United States rhetoric didn't match the United States's actions.  That there was never any real attempt at diplomacy on the part of the United States government.  Instead the U.S. became something that pumped billions upon billions of dollars into Ukraine's war effort and apparently this was not good enough for Zelensky, who Vance accused of not being thankful enough.

It's pretty clear that Zelensky wants something that the United States and other countries in Europe cannot provide without bringing about a larger conflict with Putin's Russia.  And Zelensky isn't budging about that.

I've had time to contemplate what happened yesterday and the larger scope of things.  And from where this blogger is sitting, it does seem as though Trump's strategy is the best one.  I'm not saying it's the most likable.  But it will bring about an end to hostilities sooner.  The minerals deal that was almost signed yesterday at the White House, before relations broke down between Trump and Zelensky, wouldn't put "boots on the ground" in Ukraine.  But it would put American interests firmly in place in that country, something that could be just as effective at giving Putin pause about furthering his aggression.

It's not a solution that makes anyone happy.  It certainly does not me.  In my perfect world Ukraine would kick Russia out on its ass, retake the captured territory and sue for reparations.  There would be international sanctions against Russia for invading a sovereign country.  But that perfect world does not exist in real life.

Maybe someday, after Putin is gone, there can be a return to Ukraine's intended borders.  Perhaps a Russia without leadership hellbent on bringing back the glory days of the Soviet Union's vast empire will be fully ready to join the family of nations.  But that day isn't in the foreseeable future.  We've got to take what we can get.  

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