An insightful historical context on how defeats in the Crimean, Japanese-Russian, and Afghan wars marked Russian collapses. And how Ukraine may turn out to be t

An insightful historical context on how defeats in the Crimean, Japanese-Russian, and Afghan wars marked Russian collapses. And how Ukraine may turn out to be too big to swallow. Also, there are some ramarks on why peace talks were never on the table: "If Putin was aiming for negotiations he would send someone from intelligence/security apparatus. But instead he sent Medinsky, a cheap propagandist with no authority and no influence, who's looked down upon in Kremlin. Putin doesn't aim for negotiations or for peace with Ukraine" This piece is refreshing. I am disarmed (pun intended) by naivety in the West, and ubiquitous Westsplaining, even by otherwise smart and educated people. For example, Scott Alexander wrote (https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/ukraine-thoughts-and-links https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/ukraine-thoughts-and-l...): "Russia gives up and goes home." Nope. Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the local history knows that this statement is ridiculous. If there are any parallels, it was Anschluss in 1938. No, getting Ukraine won't statiate Putin. No, the West giving it up won't win the peace.