Monday, March 21, 2022 These letters appeared in the SUN today
A
tragedy in Ukraine | READER COMMENTARY
For The
Baltimore Sun
Mar 18, 2022 at 5:32 am
Relatives and friends attend a funeral
ceremony for four of the Ukrainian military servicemen, who were killed during
an airstrike in a military base in Yarokiv, in a church in Lviv, Ukraine,
Tuesday, March 15, 2022. At least 35 people were killed and many wounded in
Sunday's Russian missile strike on a military training base near Ukraine's
western border with NATO member Poland. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) (Bernat
Armangue/AP)
Here’s
what Biden should be telling Americans about Ukraine
Here is the simple speech
that President Biden should be giving right now (”How Marylanders can help Ukrainians fleeing Russian brutality,” March 9):
The reason that Vladimir
Putin has invaded Ukraine is that Ukraine, a free country, has been on a path
to become very successful, both politically and economically. Ukraine directly
borders on Russia which, under Mr. Putin’s leadership can never be free or
successful. This contrast would, in time, become very evident to the Russian
people who, Mr. Putin fears, would eventually lay the blame on him. So, to not
invade Ukraine now would ultimately threaten Mr. Putin’s hold on power.
The Ukrainians have put up a
tremendous fight for their liberty, but Russia has a much bigger army. Mr.
Putin had hoped that it would be a quick and relatively easy takeover. But it
hasn’t been, and it now looks possible that with a moderate amount of equipment
supply and a moderate amount of air cover, the Ukranians can hold on in parts
of their country indefinitely.
The free countries have, in
response to the invasion, applied strong economic sanctions to Russia. Mr.
Putin will be determined to withstand these sanctions, however painful they may
be, no matter how much they put Russia to disadvantage or impoverish its
people. He believes that eventually the sanctions can be tolerated, weakened or
eluded. His calculation is that all he needs to do now is overrun Ukraine and
then wait out the sanctions.
Mr. Putin believes that
apart from sanctions, the free nations are unlikely to meaningfully come to
Ukraine’s aid, so fearful are they of a larger war or a nuclear war.
Consequently, he threatens any nation considering to aid Ukraine militarily
with both of those things.
The United States of
America, and free nations everywhere learned in 1938 that they cannot permit
themselves to be intimidated by such threatening behavior. The cause of the
Ukrainians is just. The cause of Mr. Putin’s government is heinous and evil. At
a minimum, the city of Kyiv must have a clear route for people, and supplies
and food, kept open to it indefinitely.
I am announcing today that
effective immediately it will be the objective of the United States to help
provide this route and these services to the people of Ukraine. Just to be
clear, attempts by the Putin government to interfere with the flow of people or
supplies along this route will be met with such means as the United States and
other liberty-loving countries will deem necessary.
— Jack Wickham, Glen Arm
Intervene
to stop this tragedy
Unwilling to provoke
Vladimir Putin, we stand back and watch on TV as the bombs rain down on
Ukranian cities (“Ukraine President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy to deliver virtual address to Congress,” March 14). We seize Russian yachts as the Ukranians bury their dead in
mass graves. I wish to ask the leaders of the world’s greatest military power
to intervene to stop this tragedy.
— John Murphy, Baltimore
What
is Putin’s endgame?
As I opened up the newspaper
I saw “Russian bombs hit maternity hospital” and later “Besieged Mariupol
buries dead in mass grave” (The Baltimore Sun, March 10). My local newspaper is
fulfilling its job of providing the fine details of Vladimir Putin’s war of
aggression. Other media outlets and online platforms are also getting out
photographs and interviews with those who are victims of a massive bombing
campaign.
These awful images of the
carnage by the invading forces are sickening to watch. These atrocities have
motivated those of us in Baltimore’s peace and justice movement to demand an
end to the ultraviolence. And there are protesters around the world, including
in Russia, who are saying “no” to war.
I was naive to think that
Mr. Putin would not invade Ukraine. Now I am unclear: What is his endgame? Will
he just take over Ukraine, or will he next attack Poland? He has threatened to
use nuclear weapons, and his forces are involved in possible attacks on
Ukraine’s nuclear reactors. There could be a nuclear catastrophe. Mr. Putin was
responsible for the overwhelming destruction of Grozny in 1999-2000, as well as
the annihilation of Aleppo in 2016. Surely, he does not plan to reduce many of
Ukraine’s cities to rubble? Or does he?
— Max Obuszewski, Baltimore
Nuclear
deterrence does not require costly modernization
Patty-Jane Geller’s column
today (“US must take Putin’s nuclear threat seriously,” March 11) is a study in
how think tanks and war profiteering are two sides of the same coin. The
essence of her argument is that Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats now require us
to spend more money modernizing our nuclear arsenal.
The only hope for humanity
in the long run is that nuclear arsenals will disappear. Fifty-six nations have
now signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and have pledged
never to possess them. Both Russia and the U.S. should sign the treaty, but
they have not.
Nevertheless, nuclear
deterrence does not require costly modernization. Former Secretary of Defense
William Perry has clearly stated, for example, that “the
United States can safely phase out its land-based … force.” The U.S. has
sufficient air- and submarine-based warheads to deter any rational opponent
from using nuclear weapons.
Weapons-makers and fossil
fuel companies love this Ukraine war and want to goad the U.S. into more and
more entrapment in the very types of endeavors that give Russia leverage to
initiate its attack. The weapons-makers want NATO expansion — the drastic
geopolitical mistake that has precipitated this crisis. They probably also want
to throw gasoline onto the fire by adding U.S. troops into the mix. If the
world had made its transition to renewable energy sources, Russia’s leverage to
invade would have been minimized.
I’m a retired citizen and
not on anyone’s payroll. Ms. Geller works for the Heritage Foundation, which is
not required to declare all its funding sources.
— Charlie Cooper, Baltimore
Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence
Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212. Ph:
410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the
subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to
gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything
to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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