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The Peace In Ukraine Coalition is cautiously optimistic about emerging possibilities for endingthe war in Ukraine. It is a good thing that the U.S. and Russia are talking. An end to the hostility between the two nuclear superpowers would bring a sigh of relief to people all over the world.

We do not know if the Trump administration, Russia and Ukraine will be able to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine. We encourage diplomacy, however, rather than fear it. We want the killing to stop as soon as possible. For three years we have been calling for a ceasefire, negotiations and an end to US weapons shipments that fuel the war. We are encouraged that in this moment there is a possibility of real progress towards peace.

Successive U.S. administrations insisted on expanding NATO – an anti-Russia military alliance – to Russia’s very borders, despite warnings by senior U.S. diplomats, academics, and secretaries of defense that NATO expansion was unnecessary and would likely provoke a war. President Biden shares particular responsibility, because he was President Obama's point man on Ukraine in 2014, and because the Biden administration rejected multiple chances for peace, both before and after Russia’s invasion. A less aggressive U.S. foreign policy would have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of young soldiers and saved hundreds of billions of dollars.

Misinformation about the Ukraine war is rampant. There is no evidence whatsoever to support the oft-repeated contention that Russia intends to invade other European countries. Even now the word “unprovoked” is dutifully repeated throughout the U.S. media sphere. By hitching itself to the tragically flawed policy of the Biden administration, the Democratic Party is now seen by many as “the war party.” This does not mean that the Republican Party has morphed into the party of peace. One need look no further than U.S. facilitation of Israel’s blatant genocide in Gaza to see that both major political parties have blood on their hands. According to recent polls, a majority of the Ukrainian people want a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war. They have suffered far too much already. Continuing the war will only result in further death and destruction.

NO MORE KILLING IN OUR NAME!!
Diplomacy to End the War In Ukraine
End U.S./Israeli Genocide in Palestine.

We Call for:
Good faith negotiations for a lasting peace in Ukraine and Europe
An end to U.S. military involvement in Ukraine, with weapons, intelligence and advisers
An end to the expansion of NATO

CODEPINK Supports Negotiations to End War in Ukraine

Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, CODEPINK has called for a diplomatic end to the war through peace talks and negotiations. As reported, Trump spoke by phone with Russia’s Vladimir Putin to “immediately” start negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, which has left hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians dead or wounded, displaced millions of Ukrainians and caused ecological devastation in one of the most biologically diverse areas of the world. CODEPINK supports negotiations that would lead to an end to this war and also calls on the Trump Administration to end US weapons shipments abroad. 

Continuing weapons shipments to Ukraine would present a direct contradiction to any negotiations that take place. Without an end to US weapons to Ukraine, the war would continue to present an increased risk of nuclear catastrophe. CODEPINK calls on all members of Congress to join us in supporting diplomatic efforts, not obstructing the peace process.

The same day Trump and Putin spoke by phone, the new US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told America’s European allies what has long been obvious to many observers, “…we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.” He also stated that the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement. It’s encouraging to see the administration embrace these points which CODEPINK and other peace activists have long considered crucial to any successful negotiated settlement.

In the latest development, US officials met with top Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia to discuss a negotiated settlement. Ukraine President Zelensky, however, was not invited.

Some members of Congress and media pundits scorn the new administration’s peace overtures. Some Democrats are concerned that the Trump administration is making major concessions to Russia without Ukraine’s President Zelensky at the table, while others simply cannot trust Trump. While many of these same figures had no criticism of past "peace talks" which excluded Russian officials, this new dialogue marks a crucial step towards bringing all parties to the table. It is also worth noting that the US repeatedly sabotaged peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the war in Ukraine. 

Money spent on weapons for war would be better spent at home on meeting urgent needs and tackling the climate crisis as fires, floods, and hurricanes ravage our communities. CODEPINK objects to successive administrations raiding the US treasury to approve nearly $200 billion for the Ukraine war and trillions on weapons and global military occupation while 60 percent of people here live paycheck to paycheck.

Along with ending imperialist wars abroad, CODEPINK calls for the end of the wars on women, trans people, immigrants, and other communities here at home. Prioritize diplomacy and the needs of the people and planet now. CODEPINK is a nonpartisan organization committed to demanding all elected officials push for peace and an end to endless wars.

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We are heartened to learn that the U.S. government is communicating with the Russian government, and are only sorry that such a basic step seemingly required a presidential election, when a glance at the Doomsday Clock ought to have been sufficient. 
Having set the bar so low that speaking at all seems a tremendous accomplishment, we must nonetheless insist that the proper things be said, and be heard, and that they be followed with verifiable actions.
 
The popular demand in Western media that Ukraine be listened to in, and be part of, any negotiations should be applauded, but radically expanded. The president of Ukraine is severely violating the rights of the people of Ukraine to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, conscientious objection, and the right to form political parties that represent their interests. He is preventing elections through the imposition of martial law. The nation of Ukraine is deeply divided in opinions, and those divisions often correspond with geographic locations. A majority of Ukrainians, according to polls — and despite crackdowns on speech that opposes warmaking — say they are open to peace negotiations that remove territory from Ukraine, something the President of Ukraine sides with a minority in opposing in the name of “democracy.” More Ukrainian voices than one should be at the negotiating table.
 
In fact, not everything should be decided at a single negotiating table. Disputed territories should be permitted to determine their own fates through public referenda, to be overseen by authorities acceptable to all interested parties. The options available to them should include limited or complete independence from any existing nation. Such autonomy is critical to achieving a lasting and sustainable peace, as well as for diminishing the risk of world-engulfing nuclear war, as well as to restore some dignity to a vocabulary that it has been rendered disreputable around the world through a gargantuan feat of hypocrisy — the vocabulary of “democracy,” “nonviolence,” and “rule of law.”
Also critical will be disarmament by all parties. And central to that must be restricting, if not scaling back, if not eliminating the reach of the world’s leading arms-dealing institution, NATO, which exists in gross violation of the United Nations Charter, and whose own rules forbid adding members without the uncoerced approval of all existing members. The acceptance of a neutral Ukraine outside of NATO would have prevented the war in the first place, according to countless authorities, including the then-Secretary General of NATO.
 
Peace negotiations in Ukraine would also be aided by, and in turn be of aid to, negotiations to take the steps recently promoted by the U.S. President, to cut military spending in half and get rid of nuclear weapons. These would be accomplishments worthy of the gratitude of all humanity.
 
Nuclear  disarmament is required by law, and is readily available to negotiate or to begin unilaterally. When the United States engaged in unilateral disarmament under Presidents John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush, Russia quickly reciprocated. Negotiated multi-party disarmament has worked in the past and can work now — even more easily, given the extent to which surveillance technology has made cheating more difficult.
 
Of course, this agenda is at odds with President Trump’s demand for dramatically increased military spending, with the reconciliation legislation proposed in the U.S. Congress to dramatically increase military spending, with the ongoing U.S.-led nuclear arms race, with the new nuclear bombs being deployed by the United States in Europe, and with Trump’s penchant for threatening the use of nuclear weapons. We support the peace agenda and condemn the war agenda, regardless of them both coming out of the same mouth.
 
We also support the frequent expression of care for the lives of those being senselessly slaughtered in Ukraine and would like to see it acted on in Ukraine and applied equally to the rest of the world.
 
We also support the frequent expression of concern for not wasting money, yet — thus far — denounce the actions that have been defended by that rhetoric, as they have mostly been unlawful, immoral, destructive, and hypocritical. Trump was elected speaking against wars and corruption. We would like to cheer for the ending of wars and the targeting of corruption in its headquarters in the Pentagon — and we will do so the minute we see those things happen.
View original WBW Press Release Here.

Coalition of US Peace Groups Sponsors Ad and Statement
by Over 100 Religious Leaders Calling for a Ceasefire in Ukraine

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Peace in Ukraine Coalition and religious leaders from various faiths
are elevating Pope Francis’s call for a ceasefire and peace in Ukraine by sponsoring a
full-page ad and statement in Sojourner’s Christian social justice magazine. The ad features
powerful quotes from Pope Francis urging an immediate end to the catastrophic Russia-Ukraine
war, which poses the risk of nuclear escalation and global annihilation.


The statement, signed by several hundred religious leaders including Catholics, Christians,
Jews, Muslims, and Quakers, emphasizes the urgent need for a ceasefire and the pursuit of
peaceful negotiations. Among the signatories are renowned figures such as Bishop John Stowe;
Bridget Moix, General Secretary of Friends Committee on National Legislation; Father John
Dear, Nobel Peace Prize nominee by Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Dr. Ansel Augustine, Director
of the Office of the Black Catholic Ministers of the Archdiocese of New Orleans; Rabbi Elyse
Wechterman of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association; and Zainab Al-Suwaij, Co-founder
and Executive Director of the American Islamic Congress.


Quoting Pope Francis, the statement reads, "How much blood must still flow for us to realize
that war is never a solution, only destruction? In the name of God and in the name of the sense
of humanity that dwells in every heart, I renew my call for an immediate ceasefire. Let there be a
halt to arms, and let us seek the conditions for negotiations."


This is not the first time these religious leaders have united in their plea for peace. In July, many
of them signed a similar letter published in the Independent Catholic News, echoing the Pope's
message and urging an end to war and violence. The letter emphasized the importance of not
accepting war as the norm and called for a collective effort to prevent further devastation.
With approximately 70 million Catholics in the United States, including President Joe Biden, who
was married by a Catholic priest at the Chapel of the United Nations in New York City, the

Pope's repeated calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine should resonate with the faith community.
Despite his campaign promise to end forever wars, President Biden has yet to support a
ceasefire for peace in the Russia-Ukraine War. Instead, he has sabotaged peace talks and
escalated the war by providing more weapons, including tanks coated in depleted uranium and
internationally-banned cluster munitions.


The Peace in Ukraine Coalition–an umbrella organization representing over 100 peace groups–
hopes their full-page ad and statement will raise awareness to encourage President Biden to
reconsider his refusal to support peace negotiations.


Some of the many groups involved in the national and international Peace in Ukraine Coalition
include CODEPINK, Veterans For Peace, Massachusetts Peace Action, DSA-International
Committee, World Beyond War, RootsAction and Brooklyn for Peace. The Coalition will
participate in the Global Days of Action Sept. 30-October 8th to promote a ceasefire and
diplomacy to end the war.


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About Peace in Ukraine Coalition:
Peace in Ukraine is a US-based organization in support of a mutual ceasefire, weapons halt and
diplomacy to end the Russia-Ukraine War.

DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE HERE. 

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  • Steve Connacher
    followed this page 2024-01-17 00:55:28 -0500
  • Steve Connacher
    commented 2024-01-17 00:55:13 -0500
    Who writes this shit?