“It is still not in America’s best interest to plunge into an all-out war with Russia, even if a negotiated peace may require Ukraine to make some hard decisions,” wrote the New York Times editorial board in “The War in Ukraine Is Getting Complicated, and America Isn’t Ready,” published on May 19.
Is reality asserting itself even in the hallowed halls of the Times, whose support for geopolitics and the Russiagate disinformation campaign have helped to bring about the current strategic situation? Is it covering its ass, preparing to shift the focus to China, or recognizing the potential for a massive loss for Biden’s party in November?
Whatever the goal, the editorial includes such accurate statements as the following: “A decisive military victory for Ukraine over Russia, in which Ukraine regains all the territory Russia has seized since 2014, is not a realistic goal…. Russia remains too strong, and Mr. Putin has invested too much personal prestige in the invasion to back down.”
The board continues: “Recent bellicose statements from Washington — President Biden’s assertion that Mr. Putin ‘cannot remain in power,’ Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s comment that Russia must be ‘weakened’ and the pledge by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, that the United States would support Ukraine ‘until victory is won’ — may be rousing proclamations of support, but they do not bring negotiations any closer.”
Their suggestion? “Mr. Biden should also make clear to President Volodymyr Zelensky and his people that there is a limit to how far the United States and NATO will go to confront Russia, and limits to the arms, money and political support they can muster. It is imperative that the Ukrainian government’s decisions be based on a realistic assessment of its means and how much more destruction Ukraine can sustain.
“Confronting this reality may be painful, but it is not appeasement. This is what governments are duty bound to do, not chase after an illusory ‘win.’”
