Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
March 14, 2022
Hello All – Russia's war against Ukraine now seems to be a war without end, as Russia appears to be determined to conquer Ukraine, and Ukraine appears to be capable of continued resistance. Assessments of how the war could play out – in what ways could the fighting stop – offer little hope that this will happen soon. What can/should advocates for peace do now?
Without taking our eye off the primary fact of Russian aggression,our energies have to be directed towards influencing the thinking and actions of our neighbors and our own government. What, if anything, can the Bidden administration due to enhance the prospects for peace?
Twenty years ago, when CFOW formed in response to the Bush war against Afghanistan, our focus was on minimizing civilian casualties. The same should be true now. Two ways in which our government's actions can reduce civilian suffering are to make it easier for Ukrainian war refugees to arrive and settle in the USA, and to craft sanctions against Russia so that the hardships of the civilian population – much of which opposes this war – are minimized.
A second focus of our messaging and activities is to strongly oppose the expansion of the war. For example, though the Biden administration has spoken out clearly against the imposition of a "No Fly Zone" against Russia in Ukraine, this slogan has strong support in the USA and in the NATO countries. There is general agreement among those who study such things that a No Fly Zone would first require the destruction of Russian air defenses, something that would immediately and sharply raise the danger level of the war. The demand for such protection on the part of the Ukrainians is understandable, but it can't be done. The same goes for other bright ideas to "win the war" by expanding it.
Another focus of our messaging is to advocate for immediate negotiations – with or without a ceasefire. While this seems like a no-brainer, neither the Biden people nor Congress nor the mainstream media are making this a public priority. Instead, the messaging from the political elite is "Russia is to blame." While this is certainly true, and scores re-election points for all who say it, blaming Russia doesn't move us an inch towards ending the suffering of those caught up in this inferno. Sooner or later, this conflict will be ended by negotiations – why wait?
Finally, we need to keep repeating basic information about the dangers the conflict poses for a nuclear war between Russia and the USA. (See here and here.) For most Americans today, the era of nuclear testing, "duck and cover," Mutual Assured Destruction, and the Cuban missile crisis are remote history, no longer a threat. But over the last decades both the USA and Russia have developed smaller nuclear weapons, more tempting to use on a battlefield in a tight spot, but judged by experts as likely to be the first step in an escalation of violence ending in a serious (and terminal) nuclear war. Accidents have happened, and will happen again; it is urgent that we end this war and return to negotiations as soon as possible.
Some useful reading on the Russia/Ukraine war
Noam Chomsky: US Military Escalation Against Russia Would Have No Victors
An interview by C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout [March 1, 2022]
---- The options that remain after the invasion are grim. The least bad is support for the diplomatic options that still exist, in the hope of reaching an outcome not too far from what was very likely achievable a few days ago: Austrian-style neutralization of Ukraine, some version of Minsk II federalism within. Much harder to reach now. And — necessarily — with an escape hatch for Putin, or outcomes will be still more dire for Ukraine and everyone else, perhaps almost unimaginably so. Very remote from justice. But when has justice prevailed in international affairs? Is it necessary to review the appalling record once again? [Read More]
(Video) Will Ukraine become Russia's 'forever war'?
From Aljazeera, with Anatole Lieven [March 10, 2022] [24 minutes]
---- Anatol Lieven wrote a book in 1999 warning that, "Any attempt by … Russia or the West to take Ukraine fully into an alliance with either of them would disastrously split Ukraine." As the war with Ukraine enters its second week, Lieven says that the only solution in sight is for Ukraine to declare itself a neutral country, preventing it from joining any Western-led or Russian-led alliances. Barring a deal of that nature, Russia and Ukraine could find themselves in a long-term quagmire. [See the Program]
How to End the War in Ukraine
By Fred Kaplan, Slate [March 9, 2022]
---- One thing is increasingly clear about the war in Ukraine: It will end badly for everyone, regardless of who wins. If Russia captures Kyiv and installs a puppet president, he will face a massive, well-funded insurgency, which could last for years and kill still more Russian troops. If Ukraine keeps successfully resisting the invaders, Vladimir Putin will step up the bombing, massacring hundreds more civilians and forcing hundreds of thousands more to flee as refugees. For several days, "peace talks" have taken place on the Ukraine-Belarus border, where Moscow's delegates propose unacceptable terms and Kyiv's delegates reject them. But some sort of negotiated settlement that stops the fighting is the only hope either country has for avoiding further tragedy. What would be reasonable terms for an armistice? [Read More]
(Video) Ukraine is Paying the Price for the U.S. "Recklessly" Pushing NATO Expansion, with Andrew Bacevich
From Democracy Now! [March 11, 2022]
---- What role did the United States play in creating conditions for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and what will it take to end the war? The U.S. invasion of Iraq, which saw no repercussions for the Bush administration despite breaching international humanitarian law, coupled with Cold War-era policies and NATO's eastward expansion, incited Putin's aggressions towards Ukraine, says retired colonel Andrew Bacevich, president and co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. "American decision makers acted impetuously, and indeed recklessly, and now we're facing the consequences," says Bacevich. [See the Program]
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. Weather/covid permitting, we meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) A "Black Lives Matter/Say Their Names" vigil will be held on Monday, April 4th from 5:30 to 6:00 pm in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email for the link. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. If you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
Helping me through this Newsletter are some new numbers from the New Orleans blues ensemble, Tuba Skinny. I think you will like this one from Jelly Roll Morton, and here they are, from the same session, with "Ain't Nobpdy's Business." There's lots more from Tuba Skinny on You Tube. Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW Weekly Reader
Featured Essays
Toxic Nostalgia, From Putin to Trump to the Trucker Convoys
By Naomi Klein, The Intercept [March 1, 2022]
---- Nostalgia for empire is what seems to drive Vladimir Putin — that and a desire to overcome the shame of punishing economic shock therapy imposed on Russia at the end of the Cold War. Nostalgia for American "greatness" is part of what drives the movement Donald Trump still leads — that and a desire to overcome the shame of having to face the villainy of white supremacy that shaped the founding of the United States and mutilates it still. … This is not the warm and cozy nostalgia of fuzzily remembered childhood pleasures; it's an enraged and annihilating nostalgia that clings to false memories of past glories against all mitigating evidence. All these nostalgia-based movements and figures share a longing for something else, something which may seem unrelated but is not. A nostalgia for a time when fossil fuels could be extracted from the earth without uneasy thoughts of mass extinction, or children demanding their right to a future. [Read More]
We Live in a World of Displacement
By Nick Turse, The Nation [March 7, 2022]
---- The number of people forcibly displaced by war, persecution, general violence, or human-rights violations last year swelled to a staggering 84 million, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. If they formed their own country, it would be the 17th largest in the world, slightly bigger than Iran or Germany. Add in those driven across borders by economic desperation and the number balloons past 1 billion, placing it among the three largest nations on Earth. This "nation" of the dispossessed is only expected to grow, according to a new report by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), an aid organization focused on displacement. Their forecast, which covers 26 high-risk countries, predicts that the number of displaced people will increase by almost three million this year and nearly four million in 2023. This means that, in the decade between 2014 and 2023, the displaced population on this planet will have almost doubled, growing by more than 35 million people. And that doesn't even count most of the 7 million-plus likely to be displaced by Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine. [Read More]
"They Want War": An Open Letter to Visual Artists and Critics
---- During wartime, aesthetics is often set aside in favor of sheer survival. That's understandable. But wars are waged with ideas and images almost as much as bombs and bullets, which is why Putin has shut down all independent media, banned public protest, and propagated the naked lie that Russia is not fighting a war at all! And it's why the Ukrainian president has used every possible image and anecdote – and American public relations firms — to paint a picture of heroic resistance against a much larger and more powerful invading force. … So, my friends, here are the two questions I most want us to address in our next meeting: 1) How can we best deploy art to challenge Russian violence and irredentism, while at the same time attacking U.S. and NATO imperialism? 2) How can artists and critics challenge the madness of exterminism: the grotesque illogic of nuclear war and the equally mad rush toward climate catastrophe? We can begin to consider these questions by examining some specific works of art from the past. [Read More]
The Climate Crisis
The Ukraine war is a decision point — banks should stop funding the fossil fuel industry forever
Svitlana Romanko and Bill McKibben, LA Times [March 9, 2022]
---- We are worlds apart now, one of us terrorized amid the wreckage of invaded Ukraine and the other entirely safe in the United States. But because we've been engaged in the same global fight against fossil fuels for decades, we are well-situated to see some of the key drivers behind this wretched moment, and hence some of the solutions. Above all, it's obvious that the world's banks have amorally worked to build Russia's oil and gas industry, the industry that funds the Russian army, and the industry that Vladimir Putin has used as a cudgel for decades to keep Europe cowering. And that's why we cheered so loudly Tuesday when President Biden — as part of his ban on Russian oil — told American banks to make no new investments in Putin's oil. … The sooner we replace oil, gas and coal with cheap, safe renewable energy, the sooner we can all live in peace. If you think the links between American banks, oil and Russia's war-making aren't deep and profound, think again. [Read More] Also of interest are (Video) "Defund Putin's War Machine: Ukrainian Environmentalist Calls For Global Halt to Fossil Fuel Funding," from Democracy Now! [March 11, 2022] [Link]; and "Heat Pumps for Peace and Freedom," by Bill McKibben [LInk].
The State of the Union
Blue Lies Matter
By Nia T. Evans, Boston Review [February 16, 2022]
---- The truth is that police do lie, all the time, about issues big and small. Police lie about their interactions, actions, and responses to people. They lie to their supervisors and on police reports to protect themselves and each other. They lie to prosecutors, juries, judges, and the public about perceived threats—the dangers posed by motorists, for example, and the use of force necessary to deter them. Indeed, police lie and fabricate evidence under oath so often that they have their own term for it: "testilying." … The problem is not individual or sporadic but structural and endemic. Police don't just lie because they can; they lie because it's part of the job, and because they are structurally shielded from the consequences. Police perjury is a core function of policing, critical to both the viability of the institution and maintaining control over the public's understanding of who should be feared and who should be protected. [Read More]
Israel/Palestine
The Israeli Kettle and the Russian Pot
By Gideon Levy, Haaretz [Israel] [February 27, 2022]
---- Israel has no right to criticize Russia. A country that has more than once acted exactly like Russia, going wild, has no right to criticize aggression and invasion. A country that had imposed violent occupation for more than 50 years cannot criticize a three-day occupation. Russia's justification for an invasion, the propaganda and the lies, seem taken from Israel's playbook every time it invaded Gaza or Lebanon. Israel always feels threatened, just like Russia, and both deny the national rights of the people it occupies. The Ukrainians are not a people, and neither are the Palestinians. Israel has an ancestral right to the West Bank, and Russia has a similar right to Ukraine – and in the eyes of both, this means the mendacious right to sovereignty. The demonization is also similar: The Ukrainians are Nazis, the Palestinians are terrorists; these are both propaganda lies. [Read More]
Our History
The forgotten socialist roots of International Women's Day
By Gillian Brockell, Washington Post [March 8, 2022] [Apologies, a week late!]
---- International Women's Day is here again, and with it the opportunity to highlight women's contributions to history, society and politics — and, of course, to sell stuff. But how did the day get started? Some point to Russian communist roots; others claim an American origin story. The truth is that it's neither and both. International Women's Day began with a Russian-born Jewish woman in New York City, before traveling to the Soviet Union and back again. … Theresa Serber Malkiel was born in 1874 in the Russian Empire, in an area now in western Ukraine. She came from a middle-class family and received a good education, but her Jewish family was increasingly persecuted and emigrated to the United States in 1891, when she was 17. Like many Jewish and Italian immigrant women at the time, Malkiel soon joined the labor movement and then started a union for female cloak-makers, co-founding a socialist newspaper, the New York Call. It was in this context that she proposed the first National Woman's Day in 1909. According to Rutgers University historian Temma Kaplan, events were held across New York, where thousands gathered to hear speeches and poems, sing socialist anthems and push for the right to vote. [Read More] Also of interest, about the status of women around the world: "International Women's Day: evolution and challenges," by Hatice Nur Keskin, Middle East Monitor [March 7, 2022] [Link].
