[pjw] INFO: Ukraine- calling for de-escalation and a peaceful resolution of the conflict

[Peace and Justice Works]

IAG supporters

Intended to send this out yesterday; just getting to it now...

Remember the laid-out version can be found at:

https://www.pjw.info/ukraine_statement0522.pdf

Feel free to share widely!
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group

      UKRAINE: Calling for De-Escalation and
      a Peaceful Resolution of the Conflict
statement by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group
May 20, 2022

Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group calls for a cease- fire and 
true international efforts for diplomatic resolution in after Russia's 
invasion of Ukraine.

It is particularly concerning that the involvement of the United States 
and NATO could escalate the fighting to include use of nuclear weapons.

The expansion of NATO since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 has led to 
the current situation, as did the US support for a coup that overturned 
the elected government of Ukraine in 2014.

The Minsk Agreements of 2014-15 called upon the parties to de-escalate by 
creating semi-autonomous regions in eastern Ukraine, but fighting in the 
region continued up until the Russian incursion into Ukraine in February 
2022.

It is true that Russia attacked its neighbor country, but it is also true 
that the US ignored Russia's concerns about moving NATO so close to its 
borders.

The US attacked and invaded Iraq in 2003 without provocation, and led NATO 
to conduct a similar attack on Libya in 2011.

While it seems strange to those unfamiliar with the situation for Russia's 
President to accuse Ukraine, whose President is Jewish, of being Nazis, 
the Ukrainian military has absorbed the Azov Battalion, a well known 
neo-Nazi militia, into its ranks.

How can this conflict be brought to a peaceful end?

1-The parties need to agree to an immediate cease-fire.

2-Humanitarian aid needs to be brought in for those lacking food and 
medical attention.

3-There should be no more arms transfers to Ukraine, and in general, no 
further arming of the combatants.

4-Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine need to commence, including a 
plan for independence and security of both nations.

5-In support of such a cease-fire and peace plan, sanctions should be 
lifted. Sanctions mostly harm the ordinary people and not the governments 
they are supposed to be directed toward, and are thus another form of war.

6-The US must stop making proclamations about .weakening Russia,. 
name-calling its president, and hinting at regime change.

7-The US needs to renew diplomatic ties with Russia to continue downsizing 
nuclear and conventional arms stockpiles.

8-No expansion of NATO.

The US continues to conduct warfare in Syria and Somalia, and to support 
the Saudi side of the conflict in Yemen. The US has for years bombed those 
three countries by drone and conventional aircraft, as it has in Iraq, 
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya with no consequences and little media 
attention to whether US actions constitute war crimes.

More broadly:

-- nations need to redirect their military spending to address the climate 
crisis and human needs, and all nuclear weapons need to be abolished. In 
the US, this means no more weapons contracts for arms merchants, and 
putting money into COVID relief, infrastructure, housing, education and 
more.

-- the structure of the United Nations, which allows the five countries 
which won World War II to maintain permanent seats and veto power in the 
Security Council, needs to be revised. While Russia can veto any 
condemnation of their actions, the United States has the same authority 
and has been able to take actions which might be considered war crimes.

-- the US should join the International Criminal Court, which it signed 
onto under Bill Clinton but .un-signed. under George W. Bush. Russia, 
which left in 2016 after its invasion of Crimea, should also rejoin.

The Iraq Affinity Group is in solidarity with all the people working for 
peace both in Russia and in Ukraine. We can make a difference by demanding 
changes to our own government's policies.

This statement was created by the
Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group
503-236-306
iraq at pjw.info
www.pjw.info/Iraq.html

Influenced by the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center (Boulder,
CO), Stop the War Coalition (UK), United National Antiwar Coalition
(USA), and Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (New York, NY).