There is definitely a shift in thinking among more and more people within the Washington DC establishment. The Pentagon just informed the House Armed Services Committee that it would be unlikely for the Ukraine to take back Crimea.
⚡️The pentagon has informed the House of Representatives that Ukraine's restoration of Crimea is unlikely in the near future — POLITICO
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) February 2, 2023
They say “unlikely” but if they were being totally honest they would have just said that it is impossible. Even Mark Milley the Joint Chiefs of Staff has admitted this.
The House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers also said that he would like to see some sort of conclusion to the war this summer.
“House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers said in an interview Wednesday that the war “needs to end this summer,” placing urgency on the U.S. to rapidly supply Ukraine for a coming offensive and on Kyiv to forge a clearer outline of how the conflict ends.” https://t.co/CWI4nWuUGo
— Emma Ashford (@EmmaMAshford) February 2, 2023
In other words, they are looking for a way to declare victory so they can move on to doing a war with China.
Even though the Ukraine has been losing hard, there are people in DC looking for an exit out of this mess without looking totally ridiculous. Unfortunately for them, I’m not sure there is a way for them to exit out of this without looking stupid. You could easily make the argument that this war has been a bigger geopolitical disaster than the botched Afghanistan exit.
