Rather than ask what is the minimum Ukraine can give Putin to stop the bombs, the question for Washington should be: What is the maximum we can force Russia to give up in exchange for not spending the next 20 years with the Western world’s big economic boot on its neck? It seems likely that the Ukrainians will want to sue for peace at some point and that they expect to make significant concessions. No one will blame Volodymyr Zelensky if he seeks a separate peace, but Washington should be more ambitious: Economic sanctions on Russia should remain in place — and should be steadily ratcheted up — irrespective of whether Moscow’s troops withdraw from Ukraine.
To what end?
Everything should be on the table — everything. Not only the phony Donbas republics but Crimea, too; not only cessation of hostilities but also heavy reparations; not only withdrawal but disarmament as well. If that sounds like pie in the sky, consider that it doesn’t have to be Vladimir Putin on the other side of the negotiating table — and, in the long run, it probably won’t be: Breadlines are going to be at least as hard on the Russian spleen as they are on the Russian stomach, and Putin has enemies. There are men who would like to succeed him, and none of them needs Washington to hand him a pistol.
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