I know this short essay will alienate me from some friends. That’s fine. I haven’t come this far in order to keep a lid on my feelings and muzzle my own words. We must find a way to stop the war in Europe and, for the time being, we’re doing everything but!
I want to go back to writing about family, about my experiences in countries across the globe, even about my life in music. And I will. In the meantime there is this:
”President Biden has asked Congress to approve an additional 33 billion dollars for Ukraine” I can assume that money will go towards tanks, missiles, machine guns, mines - whatever is left of it, that is, after the War Machine Industry Fuehrers grab their fat cut. This is pure insanity.
Ukraine cannot win this war. The sooner we all realize this, the better. Putin will pound all of Europe into nuclear dust rather than permit a chance of a Ukraine victory. A defeat for Zelensky is bad. It would mean painful concessions and possibly the end of his presidency. But a defeat for Putin is an empire ending catastrophe. It is simply not an option. He will not allow it even if he takes the world down in flames with him.
I am not here to defend Putin, nor am I “repeating Putin’s talking points”, as the blue checks with two Ukraine flags on their profile like to say. I’m just laying out a cold, hard reality. It would have been inconceivable for the Soviets to lose in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968. It was not allowed to happen. East was East and West was West. President Eisenhower stayed “in his lane” in 56 and President Johnson stayed in his in 68. But President Biden, emboldened by the sudden preening of European NATO countries, veers way out of his lane. More money for weapons means more devastation, more dead Ukrainian women and children, and the prospect of a protracted, brutal and bloody conflict that will keep going until Russia wins: Ukraine is not Afghanistan and Putin is not Brezhnev, who headed up a teetering empire.
There’s only one way out and that is diplomacy. We do not understand the full range of dynamics between the two Slavic countries with a 1000 year history. We should concentrate on putting our own very sick house in order. Instead of threats and sanctions, why not a few direct calls? Jaw jaw, not war war! Perhaps we will understand what Putin’s beef is - perhaps we won’t. But we should do what President Nixon did in 1973 in the Middle East. When the Egyptian Third Army was completely encircled by Israeli forces and about to be annihilated, Nixon and Kissinger stepped in and ordered Israel to stand down in no uncertain terms. Had they not done that, tens of thousands would have died or been taken captive, and President Sadat’s peace mission to Israel in 1977 never would have happened. The United States must find a way to step in and say: no more! Putin can be given assurances about no further NATO or EU expansion and Ukraine can be given the 33 billion to rebuild. And the Military Industrial complex walks away empty handed - even better!
I have NO idea if this is possible. But I have a very solid idea that 33 billion dollars in arms purchases is going to make the war longer, more brutal, more horrifying. More innocents will die and more people will be scarred for life. And yet Putin will win his war anyway, only at a much steeper cost to the Ukrainian people and his own troops. Stop the insanity!