US military force grows and waits off coast of Venezuela
The Duran: Episode 2384

Ukraine Rocked; Russia Smashes Through Zaporozhye Kupiansk Mirnograd; Corruption Crisis Engulfs Kiev
Topic 1729

DEMs drop Epstein docs. $100M scandal hits Zelensky PALS. RUBIO, out of sanctions. UK Starmer COUP
Topic 1875

The Duran: Episode 961
France's Marine Le Pen Acquitted in Case Over Violating Hate Speech Laws
https://sputniknews.com/europe/202105041082797685-frances-marine-le-pen-acquitted-in-case-over-violating-hate-speech-laws/

By Alexander Mercouris

Recent Russian breakthroughs on the Ukrainian battlefronts, and in particular the encirclement of large numbers of Ukrainian troops in the towns of Kupiansk and Pokrovsk, have now brought the full Russian conquest and liberation of Donbas into sight, bringing closer the end of the war.

Whilst there continues to be speculation about a possible eventual diplomatic outcome, the disastrous failure of the Trump administration’s outreach to Moscow, and the implacable opposition of the Europeans and the Zelensky government to any diplomatic outcome, makes that outcome now extremely unlikely.

In the event that there is no negotiated settlement few now doubt that the result will be a Russian military victory. Apparently this possibility was for the first time conceded in a debate in the British House of Lords, which is a part of the British Parliament.

This outcome may be much closer than is widely realised.

Since the summer of 2022, after Ukraine walked back its initial apparent agreement to the Istanbul settlement, the war has ...

If so, then any Western plans that depend on inciting an insurgency to bog down and weaken Russia in Ukraine may be ill-conceived and based on a whole set of wrong assumptions. As Putin never tires to point out, Russia and Ukraine have a long shared history and the commonalities between them as eastern Slav nations are profound. It is far from impossible that a reabsorption of Ukraine, including its western regions, even including Lviv, back into Russia might be long lasting and successful. If so then any Western plans to lure Russia westwards in order to bog it down or weaken it might end up producing the opposite result. They might instead lead to the permanent enlargement of Russia and the disappearance of Ukraine.

Since I presume this is not an outcome the West wants, by far its better course is to negotiate a compromise whilst there is still a Ukraine left. That does not however seem to be a course the West is inclined to follow.