I think they've already lost.
Really, you think
Russia has lost? Okay I can see how that could turn out to be the case, though I wouldn't say they have literally lost, yet. And I think there is a chance that they might, Lord forbid, flatten the whole country. In which case they would have won, but then have to face the music of ongoing sanctions.
That's war for you.
There would have been fewer casualties if Britain had kept out of WW2.
Okay; question: in hindsight, is this ever the right course of action?
Putin doesn't care about buffer zones. He wants the Soviet Union back.
Yes, I think we have to assume that. He has seen the West's military mistakes and reluctance to be involved in more war, and knows he can be aggressive without them opposing directly, militarily.
Also, Poland already borders Belarus. The buffer zone is gone.
Yes - I was speaking in terms of an ideal, I know it isn't likely to happen.
So the questions now are, how do we avoid this happening again, and what do we do if Russia tries to take back the Baltic states?
This could be an opportunity to see how well the strategy of completely isolating a rogue state that invades another state, works. Instead of supplying the invaded country with weapons, if they were to surrender and every single country in the free world imposes almighty sanctions. If that can work, would we need NATO? Perhaps this principle could take the place of mutual military defense and 2% GDP spent on the military? To get rid of Putin requires action from within Russia.
Just an idea.
As to what happens now in Ukraine, I have been thinking about AD70 and how the Jews believed that God would deliver them from the Romans. In the end there was mass slaughter. A high priest had tried to get the Jews to surrender the city of Jerusalem, and this would surely have been the right thing to do.
The Roman empire eventually fell.
