Deeply unserious.

This is the Russian way. The way of the terrorist. Maximalist demands completely detached from reality. Stonewall until they give you something you didn’t have before.

Russia’s “position” is -

1. Ukraine can never join NATO.
2. All land as it sits today is ceded.
3. And the fortress belt and rest of Donbas territory and population is surrendered.
4. Finland has to leave NATO for some reason.
5. Economically vital Odessa and Mykolaiv are demilitarized and therefore hostage to Russian bombardment.
6. NATO has to remove Baltics bases and the protection they give
7. Return of $300B frozen assets
8. Transnistria in Moldova is formally annexed

What does Russia offer?

1. We will remove the tactical nukes we put into Belarus in 2023.

That’s it. Never mind that those nukes are both unusable and their location is completely irrelevant in a world of ICBMs and Cruise Missiles. And that “moving” them is an afternoon of loading them on trucks back and forth.

So - Russia demands literally everything, for literally nothing. **This is all revealing of what Putin’s plans were in the first place. **

They clearly intended to seize the Baltics, Finland, Poland, Romania…everything in the Warsaw Pact and as much beyond that as they could possibly grab. We are lucky they are so stupid, and that the ukrainians are so brave.

I mean - what do you even say? Ok Russia. Game on. Keep dying then. If Peace is the same as Death, why would anybody want it?