Lundy Bancroft: Negotiate, don't escalate

I read the Gazette’s coverage of the rally at Rep. Jim McGovern’s office demanding that he speak up for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine [“A call for peace talks,” Feb. 25]. In addition to the immeasurable suffering of the Ukrainian people, the specter of nuclear war keeps growing as the U.S. pours arms, money, and sanctions into escalating the war. Consider the situation in reverse: Suppose China or Russia formed an alliance with Mexico or Canada, then built up their military forces and gave them advanced weaponry. Would the U.S. have named that as a hostile threat and invaded? Of course it would have.

There’s an important additional point you’ll rarely hear mentioned by mainstream news media: The eastern territory Ukraine would have to give up to make a peace agreement, Donbas, is majority ethnic Russians, and they’ve been fighting against the central government since 2014 for their political, religious, and cultural rights. It’s been a civil war, and continues to be.

The Minsk peace treaty of 2015 promised autonomy and protection to the people of Donbas. Instead, Ukraine rearmed and continued the war. The Minsk Agreement continues to form a strong framework for a negotiated settlement today. The U.S. and its NATO allies are the ones who don’t want peace. Mass suffering is once again being caused by power politics.

I’ve been a peace activist for decades. It’s heartbreaking to watch the death and suffering in Ukraine when a reasonable negotiated peace is entirely attainable.

Lundy Bancroft

Florence