In participating in the war against Russia in Ukraine, America’s decision-makers are violating three basic imperatives.
To avoid failure, one must:
1. Formulate clear and achievable objectives.
2. Accurately and honestly assess the state of affairs.
3. Never believe one’s own propaganda.
Achievable objective: an immediate, unconditional ceasefire. Accurate assessment: Vladimir Putin is neither militarily nor politically weak, most Russians support the war, and sanctions will not succeed in preventing the Russian economy from sustaining the war indefinitely.
Finally, an emperor’s- new-clothes moment concerning the harmful propaganda pushed by the Americans and the Ukrainians: The Ukrainians are never going to regain Crimea. Ethnic Russians make up 82% of the population of the peninsula. Most consider themselves to be Russian and will never again tolerate Ukrainian rule. The same is true for several regions in eastern Ukraine. These are unpleasant facts. I wish in no way to justify Russian aggression, nor downplay Ukrainian suffering. I simply do not want Ukraine to be added to the long list: Kashmir, Palestine, Cyprus, Nagorno-Karabakh.
— Kenneth Baitsholts
Anchorage
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