A winnable war?

Cold Warriors already claiming victory

Ukraine acknowledges it is taking heavy losses in Russia's assault in the east, but said Russia's losses are even worse, as U.S. President Joe Biden called on Congress to send as much as $33 billion to help Kyiv withstand the attack. — Reuters

Bush declared “Mission accomplished” in 2003.

It was 19 years ago that President George W. Bush stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared, "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. That war continued (is it over yet?) until 2019 with tens of thousands of deaths and casualties on all sides. It was, as former President Bill Clinton called it, "the latest, grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history."

This followed Bush’s assurances in 2001 that his invasion of Afghanistan would also result in a quick victory. He promised us, “It may happen tomorrow, it may happen a month from now, it may take a year or two, but we will prevail.”

Twenty years and three presidents later, the puppet regime in Kabul collapsed and the last of the US troops were hastily withdrawn, leaving Afghanistan broken and in the hands of the Taliban. The Department of Defense estimates that $7.12 billion worth of military equipment purchased by the United States was left behind in Afghanistan where a majority of the population is now facing a food crisis.

Now, the cold warriors, led by the former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul are already taking a page from Bush’s playbook and claiming military victory in Ukraine is at hand and insisting that the Russians have already “lost the war.” Sec. of State Anthony Blinken insists that Ukraine will “absolutely” win the war without explaining exactly what winning means or what the cost will be in Ukrainian lives. The implication is that victory equates with regime change in Moscow, the obvious goal of the cold warriors from the start of the war.

It’s true that the criminal Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a calamity for Putin and the Russian military as well as for both the Russian and Ukrainian people. But any claim that a quick victory for either side is possible is misleading and dangerous.

For one thing, it implies total military victory is “absolutely” possible. It’s not unless winning is redefined as losing a few thousand fewer lives than the other side and the use of nuclear weapons is a looming possibility that has now become normalized discussion in the media.

For another, the battlefield situation, especially in the Dunbas region, is still fluid.

Finally, it discounts the cost of the war and the impact its having on the rest of the world in terms of economic disruption and world hunger.

Claims of early victory have also given impetus to the war profiteers and oligarchs who oppose peace negotiations and who are quite willing to keep tons of weaponry flowing into Ukraine and fight ‘til the death of the last Ukrainian.

A negotiated peace is the only way this war ends, short of complete and total global devastation.

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