I think most people have foreseen this from the beginning. Do you actually believe Crimea was going to be returned to Ukraine? Also, those areas in the south and east have been a problem for quite some time. I think it’s naive to believe that things were going to return to normal after this is over. The way things are escalating I think it’s best to negotiate and end it. If we and others had been willing to give more support at the beginning it might’ve ended with a complete Russian withdrawal while retaining Crimea but that time has passed.
Taiwan is obviously an all or nothing situation unlike Ukraine. It’s plain to see for everyone at this point that Russia will most likely not be taking Ukraine in its entirety. The US and Europe are going to go for that. Now that Ukraine has invaded Russia proper they have some leverage for the negotiations that are increasingly likely and have been hinted at by both parties.
I’m curious what you thought the current or possible Harris administration was going to get accomplished?
Of course everyone in the world knows if Trump was in office the invasion wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Period.
The problem with your response, and frankly that of Vance who seems to be incredibly ignorant about Europe, is it ignores the reality of Ukrainian and Russian history, and the reality on the battlefield.
After being beaten back from Kyiv and driven from the Kharkiv province, in an act of political desperation, Russia announced the annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces. Even Donetsk, which had the largest Russian speaking population, is not fully under Russian control. The other provinces are truly Ukrainian. They voted in the mid 90th percentile to be part of Ukraine in the 1991 independence referendum. By the way, even Donetsk was in the high 80th percentile. Russia doesn't even hold the capitals of Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. As
@WAB notes, the Ukrainians have defeated the Russian Navy and Air Force in and above the Black Sea, putting Crimea at great risk (which voted in the 70th percentile to be part of Ukraine).
So, why on earth should the United States help Russia achieve its brutal strategic objectives which it is to date incapable of achieving on its own? Moreover, achieving those objectives would leave Russia stronger, and far more capable of putting pressure on Western Europe than at any point since the collapse of the Soviet Union. How is that in any way remotely in the interests of this country?
In turn, that growing Eurasian threat can only serve to divert our focus from the Pacific at a time when Chinese power is growing ever stronger. Hence, Xi's eagerness to demonstrate his support for Russia's initial invasion in February of 22.
When Vance ignorantly or naively (I am not sure which is worse) suggests Russia be allowed to simply achieve its war aims, we are allying ourselves with Vladimir Putin. It is simply incomprehensible to me any informed person would support such an outcome to this conflict or such behaviour by our leadership.