Ending a war is not the same as escaping it.

This essay examines a counterintuitive reality: the logic that drives escalation does not simply reverse when leaders seek peace. Drawing on the work of Schelling and Kahn, it shows why each rational step forward can make stepping back increasingly impossible, and why the exit from conflict may be structurally more dangerous than the conflict itself.

This is not a story about geopolitics. It is about decision-making under pressure, and the traps leaders fail to see until they are inside them.