Illuminating answers from @OlyaOliker on some big questions. Have a listen! https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-stalemate-russia-anti-semitism/32682639.html
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@stevegutterman
@OlyaOliker The more I think about it the more sceptical I am of this (throwaway?) argument about not sending a message of weakness: first of all because with Putin the west and Ukraine has very little hope of being properly understood in the first place, the Winter before the war wasn't exactly one where people were trying to look weak.
Secondly, because the risk of looking weak if it failed didn't stop the offensive, so why should the exact same principle stop negotiations?
