PSR on Ukraine: Diplomacy, not war! February 17, 2022

Credit: Dim Grits / CC BY-SA 4.0 (modified)

In February, tension and danger persisted over Ukraine. As of this writing, warfare is a distinct possibility. We’ve endured weeks of threats and counter-threats, accusations and counter-accusations of propagandizing, hysteria, hidden motives and broken pledges. But satellite images do not lie. Of course, military tension between nuclear-armed adversaries increases the possibility of nuclear weapons coming into play. While we work to abolish all nuclear weapons, PSR encourages diplomacy to dial down the angry rhetoric, and allow cool heads to prevail.

IPPNW-Europe encourages medical professionals to sign onto the “Medical Appeal: No War in Europe!  Medical professionals call for diplomacy to avert a humanitarian disaster”.

Washington PSR will host a virtual listening and discussion hour about Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb 23rd, 6:00-7:00pm Pacific time. Register here.

IPPNW hosted an international, 60min Feb 19 webinar: War in Eastern Europe: On the Brink of Humanitarian Disaster. The recording of this is now available on YouTube.

On February 8, Ira Helfand MD of PSR and IPPNW placed an article in The Nation: Ukraine and the Threat of Nuclear War: Why do we fail to consider the danger? An excerpt:

“The enormity of the risk inherent in the current game of nuclear chicken between the US and Russia demands a fundamental change in their relation to each other, and in the equally fraught relation between the US and China. The great powers can no longer pursue a zero-sum game to see who will come out on top. It is possible that one of them will emerge on top of the heap — but the heap may well be a global ash pile.”

PSR was among 15 NGOs, both conservative and progressive-leaning,  that signed onto a joint letter to Biden organized by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft — delivered to the White House on January 8 – with specific diplomatic recommendations, e.g. “we must engage in a serious and sustained strategic dialogue with Russia that addresses the deeper sources of mistrust and hostility.”

PSR was also among the 100 NGOs that signed onto a Feb. 1 “Statement Urging Biden to End the U.S. Role in Escalating the Ukraine Crisis” — spearheaded by RootsAction / CODEPINK. The next day, Martin Fleck represented PSR in a news conference: “There’s Still Time for the U.S. to Avoid a Catastrophic War with Russia in Ukraine”.

In addition, PSR  endorsed a bipartisan War Powers Resolution letter circulated in the House of Reps by Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Warren Davidson (R-OH) urging President Biden to get authorization from Congress before involving U.S. forces in a potential conflict between Russia and Ukraine.