Excellent analysis of the ethics of war and how Western elites including Australia have been reckless in supporting the unwinnable three year NATO's proxy war against Russia using Ukraine as means. The proxy war has cost Ukraine more that 1 million dead, millions wounded, millions displaced. The country is a total economic, social, democratic and environmental disaster. Yet, crazy despots like Biden and the EU had no accountability for this. Similarly, our Prime Minister Albanese is recklessly supporting more war by providing new excuses for more destruction. We have not had any national, parliamentary or foreing policy debate in Australia on Ukraine. Albo has not provided evidence that Russia is preparing to attack the EU if he wins in Ukraine. Sounds like the crap domino theory to us.

Excellent speech, Mr. Chamberlain.

No, you will not send your sons to fight, nor should you, but they could still volunteer despite your wishes - and if there won't be sufficient volunteers then they will be sent instead to freezing-temperatures Russian work-camps, your daughters will be sent to serve North-Korean soldiers in Russian brothels and being too old to work, you will just be forgotten and slowly starve to death once Putin and Trump in tandem plunder your country.

Well said.

Recently Ursula von der Leyen, Head of the European Commission was pushing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine. She was asked if any of her kids were in the military. She scoffed at the absurdity of the notion and said effectively "of course not". These leaders never send their own kids to fight these wars.

But the Europeans are anxious to send the kids from middle western US off to fight their perceived enemy. Elsewhere they'll mock those they think of American rednecks but that doesn't stop them from thinking they have a right to the taxes of these people and the lives of their kids.

This is the stupidest of wars, fought over a veritable waste-land for made up aims and pretend objectives. Trump will bring an end to it and then get the US the hell outta there. As he should.

This whole notion as exposed by Yuyutsu that if Putin isn't stopped on the Dnieper then he'll need to be stopped on the Rhine is a fantasy. Russia is no longer a threat to Europe - not because of a lack of will but because of a lack of ability. They are a rapidly declining power whose army has been exposed as a paper tiger.

" your daughters will be sent to serve North-Korean soldiers in Russian brothels"

Yuyutsu, the author is a Uighur. His daughters, or at least those of his countrymen, are already sent to the brothels of their enemies. I wonder of Yuyutsu would be happy to send off his kin to right that wrong?

I usually enjoy Mamtimin’s articles, but this one is confused. It begins by complaining that heartless bureaucrats do not count the human cost of their decisions, most significantly the decision to go to war. But those who make the decision to wage war (it is not usually bureaucrats) have a duty to consider the consequences not only of war, but of failing to prosecute war. Churchill decided in WW2 that it would be even worse for the people of Britain – and Europe - to capitulate to Hitler, than to fight. That decision was costly in human and financial terms; but I think it was right, and I am very glad he made it.

The author says that “to avoid a war, it is necessary to negotiate for peace, no matter how fragile.” But history shows that fragile peace deals very often do not last, as Yuyutsu points out with the example of Chamberlain. And peace at any cost often sows the seeds of future conflict. Many historians consider the causes of WW2 lie in the perceived unjust settlement imposed on Germany at the end of WW1. That is one reason why durable peace is often less likely with a negotiated outcome – which usually leaves both warring parties’ governments intact, and underlying grievances at best partly resolved – than where one side is utterly defeated. If the Allies had negotiated a peace deal with Hitler, Europe would look very different – and I think, much worse. Likewise, the USA and Japan in East Asia. The armistice that ended the Korean War has at least proved durable, but I suspect many North Koreans wish it hadn’t.

History shows that Russia cannot be trusted. If a peace deal is negotiated now that cedes Ukrainian territory seized by Russia, it will seize more in future, and quite possibly turn its guns on other European targets. The only “human, humane, and compassionate” to this situation is to support Ukraine in its battle to retain its freedom and repel the invaders.

The Ukraine war was from the get-go, always to be another losing American-stoked war.

Another potential perpetual war which Trump plans to finish as a stalemate, which it is now, but less the bullets and bombs.

Is Trumps appeasement mindset, an Obama/Biden ten years of appeasement on steroids?

I think there is a problem, evinced by the Israeli ceasefire with Hamas which was to the letter, Bidens rejected white flag version.

Trump prevaricated on his promise to allow Israel to finish off Hamas, which the ceasefire effectively did. That is not a good outcome! The dangers of ego writ large.

I think Trump needs to stop emulating the Pope!

Dear Mhaze,

«Yuyutsu, the author is a Uighur. His daughters, or at least those of his countrymen, are already sent to the brothels of their enemies. I wonder of Yuyutsu would be happy to send off his kin to right that wrong?»

I would never send anyone off.
Conscription is the worst atrocity on earth,
I was a victim of it myself and will never inflict it on another.

However, should any brave person, my kin included, freely volunteer for such a noble task as saving the author's daughters (assuming that it was possible), then I would whole-heartedly cheer that hero, and be happy to finance him/her too.

«But the Europeans are anxious to send the kids from middle western US off to fight their perceived enemy. Elsewhere they'll mock those they think of American rednecks but that doesn't stop them from thinking they have a right to the taxes of these people and the lives of their kids.»

If such attitudes indeed exist then I do not approve of them.

America is no longer willing to help - that is OK, they do not have to, so say "thank you" for past help (which Zelensky did), then look onward at the future options in a world where America for all practical purposes no longer exists.

«Trump will bring an end to it and then get the US the hell outta there. As he should.»

Trump may perhaps be able to stomp on Zelensky and force him to capitulate, but not on Europe.
He will get the US the hell outta there, but life will go on and with it the need to keep Europe free.

«Russia is no longer a threat to Europe - not because of a lack of will but because of a lack of ability.»

So we agree that Russia has the will and you claim that it does not have the means, but what about the still-unused nukes? Till now it was prevented from using them by America - from now on it should and will be stopped by France and the UK.

Gone are the days when the king leads the charge himself.

"This whole notion as exposed by Yuyutsu that if Putin isn't stopped on the Dnieper then he'll need to be stopped on the Rhine is a fantasy."
- Pfft. Putin would be more likely to offer Western Ukraine to the Poles so he doesn't have to deal with the banderites and let Odessa vote to become a part of Russia.
[Rolls eyes] Clueless.

I imagine Trump is paying a lot more attention to what Russia is saying than what he's letting on.