Above: Ukrainian forces surrender in Mariupol<\/p>\n
Diogenes<\/a>, one of the ancient world\u2019s illustrious philosophers, believed that lies were the currency of politics, and those lies were the ones he sought to expose and debase. To make his point, Diogenes occasionally carried a lit lantern through the streets of Athens in the daylight. If asked why, Diogenes would say he was searching for an honest man.<\/p>\n Finding an honest man today in Washington, D.C., is equally challenging. Diogenes would need a Xenon Searchlight in each hand.<\/p>\n Still, there are brief moments of clarity inside the Washington establishment. Having lied prolifically for months to the American public about the origins and conduct of the war in Ukraine,\u00a0the media are now<\/a>\u00a0preparing the American, British, and other Western publics for Ukraine\u2019s military collapse.\u00a0It is long overdue<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Western media did everything in its power to give the Ukrainian defense\u00a0the appearance of far greater strength<\/a>\u00a0than it really possessed. Careful observers noted that the same video clips of Russian tanks under attack were shown repeatedly. Local counterattacks were reported as though they were operational maneuvers.<\/p>\n Russian errors were exaggerated<\/a>\u00a0out of all proportion to their significance. Russian losses and the true extent of Ukraine\u2019s own losses were distorted, fabricated, or simply ignored. But conditions on the battlefield changed little over time. Once Ukrainian forces immobilized themselves in static defensive positions inside urban areas and\u00a0 the central Donbas, the Ukrainian position was hopeless. But this development was portrayed as failure by the Russians to gain \u201ctheir objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n Ground-combat forces that immobilize soldiers in prepared defenses will be identified, targeted, and destroyed from a distance. When persistent overhead intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets, whether manned or unmanned, are linked to precision guided-strike weapons or modern artillery systems informed by accurate targeting data, \u201cholding ground\u201d is fatal to any ground force. This is all the more true in Ukraine, because it was apparent from the first action that Moscow focused on the destruction of Ukrainian forces, not on the occupation of cities or the capture of Ukrainian territory west of the Dnieper River.<\/p>\n The result has been the piecemeal annihilation of Ukrainian forces. Only the episodic infusion of U.S. and allied weapons kept Kiev\u2019s battered legions in the field; legions that are now dying in great numbers thanks to Washington\u2019s proxy war.<\/p>\n Kiev\u2019s war with Moscow is lost.\u00a0Ukrainian forces are being bled white<\/a>. Trained replacements do not exist in sufficient numbers to influence the battle, and the situation grows more desperate by the hour. No amount of U.S. and allied military aid or assistance short of direct military intervention by U.S. and NATO ground forces can change this harsh reality.<\/p>\n The problem today is\u00a0not ceding territory<\/a>\u00a0and population to Moscow in Eastern Ukraine that Moscow already controls. The future of the\u00a0Kherson and Zaporozhye<\/a>\u00a0regions along with the Donbas is decided. Moscow is also likely to secure Kharkov and Odessa, two cities that are historically Russian and Russian-speaking, as well as the territory that adjoins them. These operations will extend the conflict through the summer. The problem now is how to stop the fighting.<\/p>\n Whether the fighting stops in the early fall will depend on two key factors. The first involves the leadership in Kiev. Will the Zelensky government consent to\u00a0the Biden program for perpetual conflict<\/a>\u00a0with Russia?<\/p>\n If the Biden administration has its way,\u00a0Kiev will continue<\/a>\u00a0to operate as a base for the buildup of new forces poised to threaten Moscow. In practice, this means Kiev must commit national suicide by exposing the Ukrainian heartland west of the Dnieper River to massive, devastating strikes by Russia\u2019s long-range missile and rocket forces.<\/p>\n Of course, these developments are not inevitable. Berlin, Paris, Rome, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Vilnius, Riga, Tallin, and, yes, even Warsaw,\u00a0do not have to blindly follow<\/a>\u00a0Washington\u2019s lead. Europeans, like most Americans, are already\u00a0peering into the abyss<\/a>\u00a0of an all-encompassing\u00a0economic downturn<\/a>\u00a0that Biden\u2019s policies are creating at home. Unlike Americans who must cope with the consequences of Biden\u2019s ill-conceived policies, European governments can opt out of Biden\u2019s perpetual-war plan for Ukraine.<\/p>\n The second factor involves Washington itself. Having poured\u00a0more than $60 billion<\/a>\u00a0or a little more than $18 billion a month in direct or indirect transfers into a Ukrainian state that is now crumbling, the important question is, what happens to millions of Ukrainians in the rest of the country that did not flee? And where will the funds come from to rebuild Ukraine\u2019s shattered society in a developing global economic emergency?<\/p>\n When inflation costs the average American household an extra\u00a0$460 per month<\/a>\u00a0to buy the same goods and services this year as they did last year, it is quite possible that Ukraine could sink quietly beneath the waves like the Titanic without evoking much concern in the American electorate. Experienced politicians know that the American span of attention to matters beyond America\u2019s borders is so short that\u00a0an admission of defeat<\/a>\u00a0in Ukraine would probably have little or no immediate consequences.<\/p>\n However, the effects of repeated strategic failures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria are cumulative.\u00a0In the 1980s,\u00a0General Motors wanted<\/a>\u00a0to dictate the kind of automobiles Americans would buy, but American consumers had different ideas. That\u2019s\u00a0why G.M.<\/a>, which dominated the U.S. market for 77 years, lost its top spot to Toyota. Washington cannot dictate all outcomes, nor can Washington escape accountability for its profligate spending and having ruined American prosperity.<\/p>\n In November, Americans will go to the polls. The election itself will do more than test the integrity of the American electoral process. The election is also likely to ensure that Biden is remembered for his intransigence; his refusal to change course,\u00a0like Herbert Hoover in 1932<\/a>. Democrats will recall that their predecessors in the Democratic Party effectively ran against Hoover for more than a half century. Republicans may end up running against Joe Biden for the next 50 years.<\/p>\n \u00a0—<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Douglas Macgregor<\/em><\/strong>, Col. (ret.) is a senior fellow with\u00a0<\/em>The American Conservative, the former advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration, a decorated combat veteran, and the author of five books.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n