I’ve had numerous debates with people here and elsewhere about whether Putin is the next Hitler, and as such, whether he is too contemptibly evil for peace talk

I’ve had numerous debates with people here and elsewhere about whether Putin is the next Hitler, and as such, whether he is too contemptibly evil for peace talks to be tolerable or sensible (“appeasement” gets brought up). Given it will take more than Ukraine and Russia sitting at the table for any meaningful peace to arise (mediation and guarantees from other nations will be key), public opinion on this topic will definitely play a role (already has, somewhat). Just look at Iran, where the nuclear deal was unilaterally torn up by Trump, and the Democrats were so weak and cowed by perceptions of public opinion and the supposed cost in political capital it would take to undo that perception, that they went along with imposing sanctions regardless. So there are real dangers to over-vilification. Arguably the same already happened to NK/DPRK as well — it’s definitely a brutal place now, but the US has been demonizing it even since when it was actually relatively-speaking more free and peaceful than the US supported dictatorship in the South/ROK.