Seeking peace is apparently the most shameful option for many.

One group wants to send weapons to Ukraine and wait for them to lose their country and the lives of tens of thousands of their young men because anything less would be "rewarding Putin!"

The other group is so dumb and gung-ho that they would send NATO into the war and risk nuclear armageddon because thet cannot abide the thought that they'd have to negotiate with the detested Russians.

One thing that never seems to occur to the dumb gung-ho group is that even if they don't set off a major nuclear exchange, they just might lose a war on Russia's doorstep. There seems to be an almost indistructable confidence in military strength in the West that can ignore defeat after defeat and still boast of victory.

It's time to face reality. Russia prepared well for this war and Europe did not. The Ukrainian army in Donbas is losing and will soon be captured or destroyed. Russia has laughed off the sanctions and Europe cannot enter the war without Russia cutting off the gas and the food. This round goes to them.

It is time to negotiate an end to the war and deal with our financial problems. Maybe it would help everyone forget about the whole sorry episode if we just picked another helpless middle eastern nation and bombed the shit out of it like we always do. For democracy!