It’s a war, CC. No quotation marks needed. Or appropriate, really, given all the misery it unleashed.

I thought the link was good and don’t have much disagreement. Putin seems doomed, and I found it interesting that essayist 1 feels a Russian collapse could be sudden and catastrophic. Hope that’s right. I wonder if we can be certain that no negotiated solution could be reached before that. Maybe Putin could save face by avoiding that in exchange for a Ukrainian promise not to enter NATO for 10 years or something. Which he would never have accepted before his military debacle. I also wonder if he won’t choose the nuclear button if he thinks all is lost, and hope Russia has safeguards against that.

The first essay spent a lot of time characterizing this as a defeat for global autocrats, including Trump, and a possible jumping off point for a resurgence of global democracy. I also think that’s possible.

Essay 2 gives 3 ways the Russians can lose and one way Ukraine “loses”, in quotes, because nobody seems to think an occupied Ukraine can be pacified.