American patriots demanding Ukraine peace negotiations are absolutely right

American patriots demanding Ukraine peace negotiations are absolutely right

By: Rachel Marsden

VANCOUVER — As the U.S.-backed conflict against Russia in Ukraine grinds on, a variety of voices have tried calling for an end to the current strategy of President Joe Biden’s administration, which consists of routinely shoveling billions of taxpayer dollars in cash and weapons out the door. But anyone popping up to question that strategy is treated like some kind of useful idiot serving the interests of Russia. In reality, those avoiding peace are harming the interests of the American people.

Labeling critics of endless war pro-Russian is like calling someone a bigot or a racist. It all too conveniently allows for their arguments to be swept aside in favor of the dominant establishment narrative.

Prominent American voices have dared to propose a negotiated exit strategy in contrast to the costly and questionably effective path chosen by the Biden administration, cheered by neocons on both sides of the political aisle and the military industrial complex.

“At present, none of the relevant parties to the conflict in Ukraine seem to be willing to stop fighting and enter into genuine negotiations to bring peace in Ukraine. Until this changes, the fighting stops, and serious negotiations get underway, the world is headed for an outcome where we all are losers,” said Jack F. Matlock, former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council Soviet Affairs director, who wrote earlier this month, calling for a U.S.-led ceasefire.

Reagan himself successfully negotiated an arms control treaty with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev amid the Cold War and despite the various anti-Soviet U.S.-backed proxy conflicts that raged throughout his term as part of the “Reagan Doctrine” of foreign policy. Reagan had a single-minded objective to avoid a direct conflict with Russia that risked nuclear Armageddon. But these days, Reagan himself would have been called anti-Reagan by the likes of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). “For somebody who has the picture of Ronald Reagan on his wall in his office in the Capitol, the notion that now Kevin McCarthy is going to make himself leader of the pro-Putin wing of my party is just a stunning thing,” said Cheney of the House Minority Leader (R-Calif.) on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

All McCarthy did was denounce a “blank check” for Ukraine, echoing the 57 percent of Americans who said in a September Quincy Institute poll that they want peace negotiations with Russia with a view to ending the Ukraine conflict, even if it means making concessions with Russia — which would ultimately be the result if the cash and weapons tap was turned off as McCarthy suggests.

McCarthy isn’t selling out Ukraine. He’s just drawing a line at selling out Americans in this mêlée, which is apparently — and incredibly — now a controversial position for American public officials to hold.

In yet another example, a group of 30 Democrats who had penned a letter to Biden demanding direct negotiations with Russia, dated Oct. 24, were quickly pressured into retracting it. “We urge you to make vigorous diplomatic efforts in support of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire, engage in direct talks with Russia, explore prospects for a new European security arrangement acceptable to all parties that will allow for a sovereign and independent Ukraine, and, in coordination with our Ukrainian partners, seek a rapid end to the conflict and reiterate this goal as America’s chief priority,” the congressional Democrats implored.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in securing the Vietnam War peace treaty and hardly a Russian stooge — was one of the first to say earlier this year that negotiations were the right exit strategy.

Businessman Elon Musk also took to Twitter recently to muse aloud about his different ideas to end the Ukraine conflict. “I still very much support Ukraine, but am convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world,” Musk said, as he took incoming flak on the platform directly from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who presented Musk’s position as binary: pro-Russian vs. pro-Ukraine.

There has to be room in this debate for those who are simply in favor of defending the interests of the average Western citizen who is being hammered by a cost of living crisis exacerbated by this endless conflict. You’d think that would be the first priority of those in power. How convenient for them that anyone leveling this criticism against them is dismissed as a Russian stooge.