The war in Ukraine has devolved into something that looks like World War I: heavy casualties on both sides; the predominance of artillery and trench warfare; and mostly static lines. If the analogy holds, what does it tell us about the future?
It’s pretty scary. Neither side was willing to make a legitimate attempt to talk peace in 1916. 1917 and 1918 saw escalation in an effort to break the deadlock: unrestricted submarine warfare; the entrance of the US into the war; and the great German offensive of 1918. The Russian Empire collapsed, to be followed by the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires. You know the rest.
If Putin isn’t willing to call it a day and make a deal at some point of his choosing, he’s going to have to escalate. He could do that by mobilizing more troops, by using nuclear or chemical weapons, or by enlisting support from the Chinese. If he does, NATO will have to respond in kind. Things could get pretty hairy after that.