[Skybird]

A proposal from within the circle of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is causing outrage in Kiev. Stoltenberg's chief of staff, Stian Jenssen, said according to the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang that one conceivable way to end the war would be for Ukraine to cede territory permanently to Russia in exchange for membership in NATO. "I'm not saying it has to be that way. But it could be a possible solution," he said.

At the same time, Jenssen stressed that Ukraine should determine when the time is right to negotiate a possible peace with Russia.

Despite this relativization, reactions from Ukraine have been clear. A Foreign Ministry spokesman called the move "absolutely unacceptable." It was assumed that the alliance would not trade territories, he said. At X, Mychaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky, wrote: "This is ridiculous. This means deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal to preserve the Russian regime, destroying international law and passing the war on to other generations."

As great as the displeasure in Kiev is over the discussion - it is by no means new. Last March, for example, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not rule out negotiations on Ukraine's future border.

[Süddeutsche Zeitung]

Slowly, these voices become louder, and more numerous, Slowly, but surely.

How can this be if a thousand propaganda videos per day show us how successful the Ukraine is fighting and how ridiculous Russian troops are? Maybe because these videos indeed are right this: propaganda?

Dont get me wrong, I am fuming about the way the whole thing is developing. Its just that I said already last summer that this outcome is likely, and that Russia wins by tiring out the West psychologically. The West has no long breath, and many states, and surely and before anyone else: Germany, simply lack the ability to think strategically, long term oriented, realistically.

It seems that the last remaining brigade the Ukrainians had in reserve is now engaged, too. And then look at the map, see what happened in the past 10 weeks (or better: what happened not and what happened inbstead of what was hoped for), and then explain to me how this math should work out well, if you can. I dont see it. The math works terribly ill.