Why anybody still listens to the neocons, and why they retain so much influence, are mysteries. From Doug Bandow at archive.is:
As the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, Western support for the proxy war against Moscow is faltering. Even some members of Washington’s militant war party are losing hope. On his recent visit to the U.S., the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was received by Biden administration officials, but without the usual fawning attention from Congress and the media.
Zelensky was reduced to uncomprehending desperation, opining: “Nobody believes in our victory like I do. Nobody.” Even his military commanders have become reluctant to follow his orders to mount costly, ineffective offensives. Close aides recognize that the war is at best stalemated, yet, reported Time, “As they have debated the future of the war, one issue has remained taboo: the possibility of negotiating a peace deal with the Russians.”
With Kiev running out of manpower and its backers running out of patience, diplomacy offers the best hope of preserving Ukrainian independence, if not territory. That requires American and European discussions with Ukraine over present war realities and Russia over post-conflict possibilities.
The outcome is going to be ugly. Early last year an overly ambitious and optimistic Washington helped scupper promising negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. Today those talks must be revived under far less promising circumstances. The priority should be to end the ongoing conflict, both to halt the destruction of Ukraine and to prevent the conflict’s escalation.
The American people, however, if not the Washington establishment, should set another priority: establishing responsibility for the failed proxy war. No doubt, much blame should fall on the Biden administration, which refused to seriously negotiate with Moscow before the war, undermined talks between Ukraine and Russia, and steadily expanded a proxy war with a nuclear-armed power over stakes far more important to it than to the U.S. This aggressive strategy unnecessarily put America’s security at serious risk.
