this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2025
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Under this scenario Russia would have military and economic control of occupied Ukraine under its own governing body, imitating Israel’s de facto rule of Palestinian territory seized from Jordan in 1967.

...

Witkoff, who is also tasked by Trump with bringing peace to the Middle East, is understood to support the idea, which the Americans believe circumvents barriers in the Ukrainian constitution to ceding territory without holding an “all-Ukraine” referendum.

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[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They really think Ukrainians are that stupid, don't they.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (3 children)

It isn't a question of stupidity. It's a question of power.

Without Western arms and armor to hold territory, both Israel and Russia can just seize the land and kill anyone who objects.

Ukrainians can know it's bullshit in the same way the Palestinians (or Armenians or Tutsis or Rohingra Muslims) can know they are getting a raw deal. But what are they going to do about it, except eat lead?

[–] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They've killed about a million Russians so far, and held the invasion a few hundred km from their border. I'd call that something they can do about it.

They have the luck ("luck") of the entire first world funding them to defend against Russia, instead of Gaza where it's 100% the opposite, so they're not in the horrifying situation the Palestinians are in. Which I'm sure frustrates Russia to no end.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world -4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They’ve killed about a million Russians so far

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_body_count_controversy

the objective was not to hold territory or secure populations, victory was assessed by having a higher enemy body count.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Unlike in Vietnam, I'd say "they're trying to kill us all and take our home, but we're killing them instead" is a pretty good model of success for the Ukrainians.

It would be great if they had other options. Hanging Putin and demobilizing everyone, and rebuilding both countries, would be a great start.

[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

The way to deal with a raw deal is to say "no deal". Appeasement of tyrants and bullies just strengthens their position and encourages them to take more. They'll never stop, because they're never actually satisfied, there is no such thing as having "taken enough" and eventually they're going to make up reasons they need more. It never ends. That's why we must fight tyranny to the death, to the last man, never give in, and be willing to die for what we believe in. Maybe what we believe in is wrong, but it's better than living in a world you can't accept anymore. Vichy France is not a good place to be. We learned these lessons after WW2, we knew tyranny had taken refuge in the Soviet Union and called itself communism, but eventually they too fell, and we thought we had found the answer to it, because we had defeated the Soviet Union with trade and peace and prosperity, we thought we could kill tyranny itself with trade and peace and prosperity. The long peace throughout and afterwards made us lazy and apathetic to the inherent dangers of tyranny and fascism, but nope, it wasn't gone at all, it was festering below the surface and now it's come back, seemingly everywhere all at once. And we're going to have to learn these lessons again and understand why people were willing to die for our freedom.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

The way to deal with a raw deal is to say “no deal”.

Obviously the folks in the West Bank are just too stupid to take this advise.

[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 hours ago

It's not their fault the entire western world supports Israel's genocidal zionist ideals. They have been put in a no-win situation. By us. We are sometimes the baddies. Just like we were when we genocided the peoples of the Americas and enslaved Africa. I am not trying to excuse whataboutisms going back centuries and millennia. We are not our ancestors, and I am not my government. But we have inherited and participated in the systems they put in place, and no matter how entrenched and complex those things we must continue trying to fix them. Giving up and accepting "the reality" is not an option.

[–] Xanthobilly@lemmy.world -1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Ukrainians are exceptionally innovative on the battlefield. The longer this drags on, the more likely Russia will lose. Putin needs a win for internal optics just as much as Ukraine needs arms and fighters.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, they're outnumbered by more than an order of magnitude. They're getting ground down as time goes on, and for all its stupidity the Russian military is not small or fragile. Basically, the Russians only have to win once to win, Ukraine has to survive every month that goes by, time after time.

The good guys don't always win. Just ask the Palestinians.

[–] Slotos@feddit.nl 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Russian allies also don’t give a fuck about red lines.

Whereas Ukraine’s allies were so unwilling to commit, that the war that could’ve been finished in the first year is increasingly likely to transition into EU invasion.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Yeah. It's a fucking disgrace.

Read "Sky Over Kharkiv" for some generally excellent picture of the war from the Ukraine perspective, with some occasional bitterness about the cowardice and apathy of all the Western allies about helping Ukraine to any pivotal extent.

Dan Ellsberg also had some great writing about how this all functions from the POV inside the Western military machine. He called it "the stalemate machine": We're motivated enough to help you not lose, but not motivated enough to let you win. And so, you just keep dying, month after month and year after year.

[–] npdean@lemmy.today 0 points 17 hours ago

War is not about innovation, it is about money.