(Image: NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Brussels in October 2001.)
Putin can be defeated both by resistance in Ukraine and by a growing Russian anti-war movement.
Threats of escalation from armchair generals will do nothing to help. But on both the Russian and NATO sides there are warmongers who want to make moves that risk nuclear conflict.
This is why UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said that nuclear war is “back within the realm of possibility”.
A recent study showed that a nuclear war between the US and Russia would lead to 770 million direct deaths.
The devastation would cause so much smoke that only 30-40 per cent of sunlight would reach the Earth’s surface for the subsequent six months.
The world’s food production would crash by more than 90 per cent, causing a global famine that would kill billions by starvation.
Next time you hear a call for escalation or NATO intervention, remember this scenario.