...and then you wake up and realize you fell asleep in front of a US MSM "news" show.

"The West is about 18% of the world. Russia can sell to the rest of the world."

This fact appears lost to the US. Less so in Europe, but the EU politicians are still complete vassals to the US...for as long as the war goes on. 80% of the world is OK with buying Russian energy, and the gray market for Russian energy is making a lot of people in Asia very wealthy selling to the remaining 20%.

The last big territorial victories for Ukraine came during their Kharkiv offensive - at great cost in men and material. Russia has been very good (after the first month) at giving up territory to inflict death and destruction on Ukraine. Eventually - as we see now - Ukraine will run out of men, material and ammo. Then Russia can take back the territory at very low loss rates.

Theoretically we can arm and train Ukraine in 3-5 years. In 3-5 years there will be no more Ukrainian army to arm and train. It is really that simple.

Ukraine should be suing for peace right now. Every day the deal they are going to get will get worse.

Unfortunately for the Ukrainian people, the top echelon of Ukraine, as well as the Western Leadership you list all have incentives to keep the war going as long as possible. My point about backlash from EU residents is a big reason there. Right now NATO and the EU are standing together because Hitler/Putin has taken Poland/Ukraine and will march across the rest of Europe if we don't stop him.

When Russia and Ukraine end the war with negotiations, you can bet your last insurance deductible dollar that ending energy sanctions will be high on the list of Russian demands. Europe will definitely NOT be opposed to that, even if at first in public they will be.

The long term damage to Europe-US relations will be comparable to how it was in 1962 when Kennedy imposed sanctions on Europe for Soviet energy.

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose