Harry Targ
The Tricontinental
To quote a tired but true slogan, “war is not the answer.” The Russian invasion of Ukraine destroyed the lives and property of Ukrainians, the lives of Russian soldiers and protesters, and continues to raise fears of an escalation of war throughout Europe, and the danger of nuclear war.
“We” need to demand “back-channel negotiations” (not public displays) as occurred during the Cuban missile crisis, diplomacy at the United Nations, and summit meetings of diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, and Europe. And conversations on the agenda should include forbidding Ukraine from joining NATO, establishing regional autonomy for Ukraine citizens who want it, pulling back NATO bases from Eastern European states, and/or abolishing NATO itself because the reason for its creation in the first place, defending against an attacking Soviet Union, is no longer an issue.
The "we” at this moment could be a resurgent international peace movement, taking inspiration from peace activists in Russia and around the world. As horrible as this moment is, it is potentially a “teachable moment,” a moment when peace becomes part of the global progressive agenda again and people all around the world can begin to examine existing international institutions such as NATO, the United Nations, and the Bretton Woods systems. And now, peace and justice movements should recognize new international realities emerging largely from the Global South.
As James Goldgeier wrote over twenty years ago on a Brookings Institute web page: “The dean of America’s Russia experts, George F. Kennan, had called the expansion of NATO into Central Europe ‘the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era.’ Kennan, the architect of America’s post-World War II strategy of containment of the Soviet Union, believed, as did most other Russia experts in the United States, that expanding NATO would damage beyond repair U.S. efforts to transform Russia from enemy to partner.” (James Goldgeier, Brookings Institute, “The U.S. Decision to Enlarge NATO: How, When, Why, and What Next?“, June 1, 1999)
