The solution to this problem is straightforward. Putin can get out of Ukraine. All of it.

Simple to do, easy to achieve. No more Russians or North Koreans need to die.

Or Ukraine can surrender. "Simple" to do, "easy" to achieve, no more Ukrainians need to die.

Disclaimer: I'm not suggesting Ukraine should surrender. I'm saying both Ukraine's surrender and the Russian pull-out are equally hard to do from their respective perspectives.

Consider what it would sound like if you applied this logic to any perpetrator/victim situation, like a rape for example.

Which is completely ludicrous, of course.

For Ukraine, "surrender" means accepting permanent occupation and subjugation.

For Russia, it means they get egg on their face, basically. It will just go back to its corner and sulk for a while. Definitely very doable, as it's something they've done many times in the past.

There's simply no comparison.

And there's no symmetry at all between the two sides in this conflict.

Putin believes Ukraine is not a real country and Ukrainians are not a real people. No agreement is possible when that is his attitude.

> I don't think one-sided demands

There is only one side. This is one of the least ambiguous wars in history.

Nobody joins a defensive alliance because it's cute. To the extent a cogent geopolitical message has been delivered, between Bush and Biden, it's that the international order has two castes: nuclear-armed states and everyone else.