How does any government negotiate with a mendacious autocrat like Putin? That is the real question. Was it necessary to accumulate all these weapons on the border with Ukraine just to start or continue ‘negotiations’? And how can genuine negotiations be conducted at the muzzle end of a gun?
Western governments have successfully negotiated with Putin before. So it can be done. No it wasn’t ‘necessary’ to stage these exercises, but we are where we are. There are things that can be negotiated, regardless of the nature of Putin’s regime, for example, here: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/05/minsk-conundrum-western-policy-and-russias-war-eastern-ukraine. And lastly, what’s your alternative? War with Russia?
How does any government negotiate with a mendacious autocrat like Putin? That is the real question. Was it necessary to accumulate all these weapons on the border with Ukraine just to start or continue ‘negotiations’? And how can genuine negotiations be conducted at the muzzle end of a gun?
Western governments have successfully negotiated with Putin before. So it can be done. No it wasn’t ‘necessary’ to stage these exercises, but we are where we are. There are things that can be negotiated, regardless of the nature of Putin’s regime, for example, here: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/05/minsk-conundrum-western-policy-and-russias-war-eastern-ukraine. And lastly, what’s your alternative? War with Russia?