A group of US representatives appealed to President Joe Biden to pursue diplomacy with Russia, only to retract their letter shortly thereafter, proving that not even the suggestion of talking to Russia is tolerated
Robert Bridge is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of ‘Midnight in the American Empire,’ How Corporations and Their Political Servants are Destroying the American Dream.
Robert Bridge is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of ‘Midnight in the American Empire,’ How Corporations and Their Political Servants are Destroying the American Dream.
@Robert_Bridge
FILE PHOTO. From left, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Joe Neguse, D-Colo., conduct a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on banning members of Congress from trading stocks. © Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
This week, a group of 30 congressional Democrats, undoubtedly more concerned about suffering an election blowout in November than experiencing a nuclear winter, called for dialogue with Moscow, only to immediately retreat from their ‘radical’ position hours later.
In their excessively reverential letter to the aging emperor Joe Biden, the Democrats go no further than to seek a “proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire.” This is a far cry from Elon Musk’s recent peace plan, which called for, among other things, Crimea remaining part of Russia (as it had been since 1783, until Khrushchev’s mistake) and Ukraine committing to neutrality. But beggars can’t be choosers.
“The risk of nuclear weapons being used has been estimated to be higher now than at any time since the height of the Cold War,” the Democrats wrote in their letter, taking extra care not to irritate Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who has said he would never talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “For this reason, we urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided to Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire.”
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The irony here can be sliced with a knife, since all the hype about an imminent nuclear disaster has really been coming from Washington, such as the time when Biden shocked a Democratic fundraiser by telling the audience, “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis…[Putin’s] not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming.” What the Democrats fail to grasp is that Moscow has not threatened to use any WMDs in Ukraine or anywhere else.
Thus, by believing in their own rhetoric, the Democrats have unwittingly awakened a sleeping giant in their midst – the anti-war protester, last seen en masse during the 2003 Iraqi conquest. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who voted in May to send $40 billion in military aid to Ukraine, had a memorable encounter with several of these rare birds during a Q&A session this month.
“You ran as an outsider, yet you’ve been voting to start this war in Ukraine,” a young man in the audience reminded her. “You’re voting to start a third nuclear war with Russia and China. Why are you playing with the lives of American citizens?”
Another protester then pleaded with AOC to call out the Democratic Party, drawing reference to former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who announced she would be quitting the party she called “an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.”
Needless to say, that is not an image the Democrats wish to cultivate among voters just before elections, especially when being a ‘warmonger’ carries a hefty price tag that the US budget can ill afford. To put it mildly, AOC, whose campaign was heavily financed by the likes of George Soros, was called out as the hypocrite she is. While running for Congress, she portrayed herself to millions of Democrats as an environmentalist/Socialist/peacenik that would defend the common man/woman/transgender/endangered species against corporate excesses. In fact, in a single moment she was outed as nothing more than a photogenic pom-pom shaker for Big Business, such as the Raytheon Corporation, which saw profits explode to $16.95 billion – based largely on its missile and defense contracts thanks to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
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Meanwhile, at a time when the US economy is careening towards the rocks of recession, many Americans strongly resent being lectured to endlessly by the Ukrainian president on what they need to do for him. After all – and this may come as a surprise – Ukraine is not the number one most crucial issue for the American people. Poll after poll shows that the primary issue for most Americans is runaway inflation. After all, who cares about what is happening in a distant country that 90% of Americans could not locate on a map when there is not enough money at the end of the month to pay the rent and heating bills? But Zelensky doesn’t care about that, nor do his greedy handlers in Washington. Perhaps when your personal worth is estimated at $20 million dollars, including luxury homes and assorted real estate, then of course inflation may seem secondary or even tertiary.
The Democrats, at least some of them, seem to finally understand that the American people are fed up with the blank-check powers that have been handed over to the Zelensky regime. The Republicans, who have threatened to terminate any further aid to Kiev should they win in November, stand to gain at the polls due to their willingness to rein in spending and lock down the border. The last point is particularly important for many Republicans, many of whom are asking, ‘Why are the Democrats so concerned about shoring up the Ukrainian border against Russia, yet they see no problem leaving the US-Mexican border wide open to every sort of criminal element?’
The sad fact is that the Democrats are wholly committed to fighting a proxy war with Russia using the Ukrainian people as expendable cannon fodder. The Ukrainians, an otherwise intelligent people, blew a golden opportunity to remain a neutral country as they succumbed to NATO pressure to play David in a futile battle against their hulking neighbor. But in this modern story, there will be no magical rock to slay the giant. It is Ukraine’s tragic fate that the usual suspects rejected Moscow’s plans for peace, submitted in December, opting instead to drive up the pressure to the point when Moscow had absolutely no other choice but to announce its special military operation against Ukraine. How many Ukrainians asked themselves the simple question: When has a position of neutrality ever hurt a country? Has Switzerland suffered from it? Hardly, it’s one of the richest countries in Europe and has investors flocking to its banks. Has neutrality hurt Finland? Nope. It was named the number one country in the world in 2021 for quality of life, according to the CEOWORLD magazine 2021 report.
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And now, a group of Democrats have appealed for talks with Russia during election season. Even if they hadn’t immediately backpedaled, to say this was ‘too little, too late’ would be a massive understatement. If these Democrats had been sincere in their anti-war position, they would have been screaming for peace before billions of dollars of weapons were dumped in Ukraine, thereby making peace a near-impossible dream.
Regrettably, Moscow has been forced to come around to such a conclusion as well. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced recently that Russia may pull back on its diplomatic efforts in the West, citing the increasingly open hostility faced by Russian diplomats in Western capitals.
“People work in conditions that can hardly be called human,” Lavrov said, referring to the “constant problems, constant threats.” He added that there is “no point” in maintaining the same level of diplomatic presence.
In other words, we’ve reached a truly ominous period in human history when the opportunity for diplomatic efforts between the world’s two nuclear powers has practically vanished. The world has not experienced such a situation in recent memory, not even during the worst moments of the Cold War. Unfortunately, Washington must accept the blame for this dire situation, which only the Ukrainian people themselves can fix by demanding that their leaders stop pursuing conflict with Russia and accept neutrality. The future of the planet literally depends on it.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
