War is too important a topic to leave to the generals and politicians, the pundits and the bureaucrats.   As much as "they" don't want you to think for yourself, you must. Thinking and speaking are the fundamental acts of defiance against the totalitarian impulses of our own society.  According to American politicians, the U.S. is very much at war against Russia -- Ukraine is just part of the arena.  I don't see any realistic way of ending the war without seeing it through.  Neither side perceives an ability to gracefully fold.  And that makes the war an existential war for both sides, and all of us.