Quote Originally Posted by JamesWales View Post
Yeah I certainly see your point. I just don't think we have the desire to support Ukraine properly (in effect risk a nuclear war) and I don't think it's sustainable to carry on. The US voters suggested that. The German election will likely demonstrate it too. Not as direct results of supporting Ukraine perhaps, but because of secondary impacts like the cost of aid and energy. So I don't think it can carry on as is.

It's far from ideal, esp for Ukraine who will no doubt view it as an historical mistake, but I suppose thats not an uncommon result of peace settlements which are neatly always compromises, or fights to the end.
The US voters wanted someone who'd reduce the cost of living first and foremost according to the poll I saw this week (79 per cent, the biggest single reason why people voted Republican). Incoming Governments always claim they have been given a mandate for everything that was in their manifesto, but your average person only votes on the basics or maybe on a pet, pretty minor, policy of theirs that the new Government supports, they don't go through the manifestos with a fine toothcomb and then not vote for any party that has something in them that they don't agree with.

I'm pretty sure there weren't many Americans who voted for Trump to do a Neville Chamberlain impersonation by appeasing Putin, bnt it didn't stop him winning - albeit by only about 1.5 per cent, yet that's big enough for him to start acting like some kind of monarch apparently.