Here is a reply to someone else’s post from a while back. I post it here because it retains its relevancy: Why would you even mention, at some length mind you, “fraudulent” claims of self determination, including the Confederate South, in earlier historical settings since they have no relevance in the case of Ukraine? If total victory in the eyes of Ukrainians is understood as the complete withdrawal of the Russian troops from Ukraine, are you ready to say that is an “illusion?” Are you ready to permanently concede Russian controlled Ukrainian territories to Putin as an acceptable price to be paid in order to commence negotiations to end the war? Would you support the immediate cessation of military assistance from the U.S. to the Ukrainians? And if so, what do think the fate of Ukraine would be in that event? Is it realistic to think that Putin will negotiate in good faith short of a decisive Russian defeat on the battlefield and greater international pressure? Do you understand Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine as simply reactive and defensive? Isn’t it up to Ukrainians to decide the terms of ending the war? Not some sections of the US left? How do you understand the right to self determination? In general and in the case of Ukraine? Can the struggle of the Ukraine people be framed as an anti-colonial war of resistance? Or is it a second order concern in a proxy war between Russia and the U.S.? How extensively have you read Ukrainian sources, including socialist ones, on the invasion and Ukrainian politics?