If only there was some way to achieve peace in Ukraine. Shame no one can figure it out.

@DogMan I sent you an IM. Feel free to ignore it and I'll respond to your comment.

@DogMan So it goes. I didn't condone Russia taking over Crimea. I don't think I am prevented from from being against Putin's invasion because of how Obama reacted to Crimea.

@Bumbles What is the difference between Crimea and Ukraine? If neither Russia or Ukraine is willing to concede
anything, what then? Should we spend hundreds of billions to keep the war going? Should we put boots on the
ground? Nuke Russia?

I don't have the answer, but I believe Trump is doing the best thing we can do right now, negotiate. What would you
do if you were in charge?

If Zelensky and Putin cannot come to an agreement, this will be an unending war. Europe and the U.S. will go bankrupt
funding it. China would LOVE that.

If an agreement is not made, I would say, "Ukraine, you are on your own"

@DogMan Let's say they are exactly the same for the sake of argument. I would consider that analogous to Czechoslovakia v Poland in WW2. Were the Allies prevented from being against the invasion of Poland because they let Czechoslovakia go?

Yes, i do think we should spend billions to keep the war going so Putin is back on his heels and willing to really negotiate. Then we are negotiating from a position of strength. Trump is negotiating from a position of weakness. He takes things off the table before negotiating. You're not a dumb guy, you know that's how it works.

I think Europe should then have a big presence in Ukraine, yes. US Boots? No, wouldn't go that far.

@Bumbles I believe Europe should have the BIGGEST presence, why don't they? Trump is doing the best he can,
with what he has. You say that Trump is negotiating the wrong way, what if it works? Will it still be the wrong
way?

Biden gave Ukraine everything they needed, did it help end the war? Did it help Biden negotiate peace?

Is Ukraine a beacon of Democracy, freedom, and good will? I don't really know. If they were, I believe Europe
would want them as part of NATO, wouldn't they?

@DogMan I totally agree Europe should do more. It's one point I agreed with Trump about in the first term. If there is a deal I will tell you what I agree with and what I don't agree with. Biden was actually more incremental than you think, but I take your point. I think he probably saved Ukraine from Putin's invasion being far more successful. No Biden did not achieve peace, nor do I think that was a bad thing.

@Bumbles I remember when Russia first attacked Ukraine, Biden did nothing at first. I believe that is because he thought
they would collapse without a fight, like Crimea did. I believe it was around 2 weeks after it started that Biden realized it
was not going to be like Crimea. If it had been, he would have done the same thing Obama did, nothing.

@DogMan I have no interest in defending Biden's initial reaction. He did actually took an unusual step is releasing intelligence that Russia was about to invade. I did look into Obama's approach and I'm ambivalent. Ukraine didn't defend itself. It was took weak at the time and wasn't on that kind of footing. It was after Crimea that Ukraine beefed up its military to a significant degree. Europe was asleep at the wheel, too. So, I'm not sure what else would have made sense at the time, but like I said, I'm ambivalent.