World War III Watch: The left and the Neocons want the killing to continue in Ukraine

Our good friends on the left are just up in arms over President Trump’s meeting with Soviet Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in Alaska, ostensibly to discuss some way to end the Russo-Ukrainian War, which has been raging — well, maybe raging isn’t the right word; how about plodding along? — for 3½ years now. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Trudy Rubin, as much of a neocon as anyone working for the Inky can be, frets:

Europeans understand the aggressive mindset of Vladimir Putin in a way President Donald Trump does not. After all, many of their nations experienced brutal Soviet occupation during the Cold War.

So one can only hope the Wednesday call between Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders — all of whom are excluded from Trump’s Alaska summit on Friday with Putin — made an impact. And that Trump will not be bamboozled by Putin’s flattery and lies to make unrequited concessions over Ukraine’s head.

European leaders believe this summit, if handled badly, could have historic consequences extending far beyond Ukraine, and boost the chances of a much wider war in the future. A war on several fronts, involving not just Europe and Russia but also China, the United States, and America’s Indo-Pacific allies.

But there’s one really huge problem for Ukraine, and their supporters in the West. From The New York Times:

Why Putin Thinks Russia Has the Upper Hand

By Anatoly Kurmanaev, Josh Holder, Paul Sonne and Oleg Matsnev | Thursday, August 14, 2025

Vladimir V. Putin exuded confidence. Sitting back, surrounded by foreign dignitaries, the Russian president explained the futility of Ukrainian resistance. Russia had the advantage on the battlefield, as he saw it, and by rejecting his demands, Ukraine risked even more for peace.

“Keep at it, then, keep at it. It will only get worse,” Mr. Putin said at an economic forum in June, as he taunted the Ukrainian government. “Wherever a Russian soldier sets his foot, it’s ours,” he added, a smirk animating his face.

His self-assurance is born out of the Russian military’s resurgence.

In the depths of 2022, his underequipped forces were disoriented, decimated and struggling to counter Ukraine’s hit-and-run tactics and precision-guided weapons. Instead of abandoning the invasion, Mr. Putin threw the full strength of the Russian state behind the war, re-engineering the military and the economy with a singular goal of crushing Ukraine. In his push, the country revamped recruitment, weapons production and frontline tactics.

In a way, it’s not unlike the Soviets facing the Nazis in World War II: massive Russian unpreparedness and defeats, as the superior Wehrmacht surged forward, surrounding and besieging Leningrad, and almost making it to Moscow. But Soviet resistance stiffened, and the Red Army, aided by American Lend-Lease equipment, made the changes needed, and became the formidable steamroller which pushed the Germans out of the USSR, and then out of Poland, and made it all the way to Berlin. This time, Russia was the aggressor, but the pattern is the same: it takes Russians a long time to really get rolling.

The case was similar in the Winter War, the Soviet invasion of Finland in late 1939-early 1940.

This is now a war of attrition favoring Russia, which has mobilized more men and arms than Ukraine and its Western backers. While their casualties are mounting, Russian forces are edging forward across most of the 750-mile front, strengthening Mr. Putin’s resolve to keep fighting until he gets the peace deal he wants.

Note that: Russia, which had thrice Ukraine’s population, has “mobilized more men and arms than Ukraine and its Western backers.” The West can keep giving Ukraine more money and more weapons, but no one has been able to give them more men, more soldiers. The Washington Post documented, last Boxing Day, how the Ukrainian military are having to use older men to fight, because so many younger soldiers have been killed. I have said it many times: Ukraine cannot win its war against Russia without the United States and/or NATO sending real combat troops to directly fight the Russians . . . and that’s World War III!

While France and the United Kingdom have made furtive noises about sending their own troops to Ukraine, but the only nation to actually do that was North Korea, which sent troops to help Russia! People in the Western democracies have been pretty brave in championing Ukraine, but no one really wants to send troops, and any country that did so would almost certainly face a real revolt among their people.

There are warning signs for Russia. Its elite infantry units have been wiped out. Its military plants depend on foreign components and dwindling Soviet-era stocks. Its economy shows cracks.

Mr. Putin figures that he can manage the wartime pressures longer than Ukraine and can secure a peace deal that would ensure his legacy. He has repeatedly demanded four regions that Moscow has claimed to have annexed and sought a deal that blocks Ukraine from joining NATO and limits the size of its military.

If talks with President Trump in Alaska this week don’t lead to such a deal, Mr. Putin has signaled that he is willing to fight on, using force to achieve what diplomacy cannot.

“I have stated Russia’s goals,” Mr. Putin told reporters this month when asked if Russia was willing to compromise. “These conditions undoubtedly remain the same.”

At some point, this war has to end, but the obvious question is: how? It can end with a complete military victory, something which seems very far off, and the only side which can win a complete military victory is Russia. Or it can end with some sort of ceasefire, a very unsatisfactory ending, but one which at least has the virtue of stopping the killing. A ceasefire in place means that Russia will have won the areas it already holds.

The left can keep whining that the evil Donald Trump is going to betray Ukraine, but until they come up with a plan which enables Ukraine to actually win the war, all they are doing is advocating that the killing continue.