I had a conversation with John Mearsheimer and Alexander Mercouris about the likely end of the line for diplomacy to end the proxy war in Ukraine. Russia’s demands are very high as they seek to address the root causes of the war that have been building up for the past 30 years, while Zelensky and the Europeans aim to pull the US deeper into the war as opposed to ending the war. The meetings in Alaska and in Washington were successful by removing the possibility of an “unconditional ceasefire”, yet the issue of restoring Ukraine’s neutrality, territorial concessions and security guarantees (for both Ukraine and Russia) has not been resolved.