Caught off guard by new proposals to halt the war in Ukraine, European leaders have rejected the idea of Kyiv giving up territory. What’s less clear is how they imagine making their red lines into a reality.

It is by now clear that European leaders prefer the war in Ukraine to continue, that they fear peace (a “quick” one anyway), that many believe Europe is already at war and seem “gung ho” to turn it into a shooting war, and that they are obsessed with inflicting defeat on Russia. Far less clear is why they think this way. Amid the whiplash of this year’s developments, an answer is emerging — a method to this madness.

We are living through a Zeitenwende. From the frisson with which this word is uttered in English media, you’d think it means “Germans like war again.” You’d be forgiven f

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