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I agree that the US has been inching towards a harder line on Russia since 2016 but the evidence that they interfered in the 2016 election is voluminous, read the Mueller Report, or the GOP led, bi-partisan Senate Intelligence committee report from 2020.
Implying that 'we' the west need to get to negotiations with Russia and find an acceptable solution denies Ukraine's agency, which is what Putin has wanted all along.
Jung-
Implying that 'we' the west need to get to negotiations with Russia and find an acceptable solution denies Ukraine's agency
I agree with this in theory, however the situation here is that Ukraine does not have enough weight to change Russia / Putin's policy. Putin will just continue to obliterate their country and people.
It's also not yet clear whether "the west's" economic sanctions have sufficient weight to bring Putin / the Kremlin to the negotiating table either. The hope is that they will eventually, however "eventually" is already too late for many people who have lost their lives, and horrendously will also be too late for many more who have yet to do so.
I don't have any answer as to what could bring about a peaceful outcome any more quickly and I don't discount anyone who is trying to bring up possible (reasonable) answers.
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Implying that 'we' the west need to get to negotiations with Russia and find an acceptable solution denies Ukraine's agency, which is what Putin has wanted all along.
It's not us that needs to negotiate, it's Ukraine and Russia.
I guess Ukraine might want other parties involved though - but their call. -
I agree that the US has been inching towards a harder line on Russia since 2016 but the evidence that they interfered in the 2016 election is voluminous, read the Mueller Report, or the GOP led, bi-partisan Senate Intelligence committee report from 2020.
I should rephrase - I'm sure Russia has tried to interfere in elections as that's what countries do and there is evidence of lots of stuff happening. What I meant was I'm not sure that there's evidence that it made a decisive difference, that things wouldn't have happened anyway. I've not read all the US evidence and I never will but, with Brexit, I can see enough reasons why it happened from 15+ years of UK policy own goals and errors without needing to believe the Russians were required to make it happen.
ChasnotRobert
frank9755
The evidence is that, over the last few years, the US in particular has talked up Russia as the big enemy and military threat, blamed (without much evidence) for interfering in the 2016 election and the Brexit referendum.
Putin is not going to withdraw to 2014. He is keeping Crimea and he needs something else - by which I don't mean territory - to make an orderly withdrawal. If he doesn't get something, he won't leave.