Stephen M. Walt
War is on everyone’s lips and laptop screens these days. Each day, we pore over the latest news from Ukraine, read opinions from real (or imagined) experts, and try to figure out who's winning on the ground and in the air. Not surprisingly, it's easy to find both optimistic and pessimistic forecasts.
All the attention on the fighting is understandable, but what matters in the end is how the conflict is resolved. It may be emotionally satisfying to proclaim that the only acceptable outcome is Russia's capitulation, regime change in Moscow, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's prosecution for war crimes, but none of those outcomes is likely. Making these goals our war aim is also a good way to prolong the fighting and raise the risk of escalation even higher.
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