Western pushback resulting in a stalemate is not a bad option. We did that for about 40 years during the Cold War and both the Soviets and China had to back down due to resultant economic woes (the West has the economic advantage as capitalism/democracy attract the better minds and $$$) There were slight provocations and posturings (Berlin wall/airlift and Cuban missile crisis, along with Korean and Vietnam proxy wars), but neither side was stupid enough to employ nukes. As such, I suppose we should hope for Ukraine-Russia and Taiwan-China stalemates, as time is on our side. The Ukraine-Russia "no man's land" is becoming rather fixed and perhaps a kind of de facto border (like the zone between the two Koreas or Germanys). I suspect that due diligence might require NATO to take in Ukraine, as we will all need to vigorously defend the Ukraine/Poland/Baltic borders in future years while we wait for Putin to fail from within. Re: Trump/Ramawamy/DeSantis, please once again check to see if they're not on the Putin payroll...how could they not be with the things they say? As George Will said, Ramaswamy's theories about trusting Putin to stick with his current territories is reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain's naivete vis-a-vis Hitler.