Okay, a serious question: given that a complete and total “you lose” is really unlikely, what could we offer Putin to stop the war?
I’m talking real world – so, no, a meteor is right out (unless you can control one personally), as is assassination – do you *really* want a destabilized Russia, with no remaining chain of command over real nukes?
I asked this on Charlie Stross’ blog (far down in a long thread) and the best I’ve seen was a German, who suggested a federalized Ukraine with an EU application (which takes years) and no NATO application.
How well that would work, given the last few days, I have no idea. So – thoughts?