What Is Appeasement?

One of the most defining features of Republican political writers is their ability to support something while also being in denial of supporting such a thing. Enter a 3/24/2022 article for The Federalist with the headline “The Most Humane Goal For Ukraine Is The Quickest Negotiated Settlement Possible.” The entire issue with the article’s philosophy can be summed up with its byline, which reads:

It is not “appeasement” of Putin to try to find a negotiated way out of the war. It is elementary humaneness — and hard-headed realism.

Of course, that would depend on what the end results of these negotiations are. If they would involved Putin getting what he wants — either in the form of Ukraine not being allowed to join NATO or the territories Putin declared independent from Ukraine remaining that way — then that would be appeasement, at least in those places.

I should also note the use of the phrase “realism,” a phrase which means absolutely nothing. Henry Kissinger is considered to be a supporter of “realpolitik” — although he has never once used that phrase — but nobody is a supporter of “fakepolitik.” It’s the same issue with the term “realism,” since nobody considers themselves to be a supporter of “fakeism.”

I should note, the article never once actually says what these negations should look like. Instead, all it does is point out…