This is why the US should not be counted out until they’re actually out. Everyone crowing about the US having egg on its face, taking an L in Ukraine and the whole world seeing the genocide in Palestine and then they just pull out this huge win. Turns out the material on the ground situation is what they’ve actually won while we’ve won some feel good points and some PR which does little.

This just comes across to me like cynicism under the guise of a political analysis backed up by exercising vision as 2020 in hindsight.

Is this a loss for the cause and should be acknowledged as such (as opposed to hiding from reality)? Yes. Is it really worth dooming about the trajectory of the next decades? No. A loss is something to learn from and adjust because of. The world is a lot bigger and more complicated than one country, and we do no favors trying to oversimplify the trajectory of things, especially in a way that can undermine hope and morale. People need to know what they're contending with and they need to not be complacent about it - on that, I can understand the need for not being overconfident. But there is another side to that, where a person can go so far in the other direction, they're underestimating their own capability and in doing so, undermining their own efforts because they give up before they even try. And I know from personal experience: me and anxiety know each other well, and one of the things anxiety can cause is avoidance due to letting fear control.