After listening to a lot of commentary on current events, I have concluded that Jeffrey Sachs has the most rational point of view in almost every case. If only world leaders would listen to him and follow his suggestions, we could end all the wars, and begin to tackle some of the other issues threatening the survival of life on the planet, such as the collapsing biosphere and the climate crisis.
The war on Iran is a simple matter. The State of Israel is way beyond out of control, and the continued allegiance of the United States to the dictates of Netanyahu is the principle stumbling block to solving that quagmire, and launching an unprovoked, astoundingly stupid, and illegal war on Iran is “the biggest foreign policy blunder the United States has ever made.” Once the scales fall from the rapidly dimming eyes of Donald Trump, and he stop the flow of money and weapons to Israel, and instead offer his apologies and reparations to Iran, and offer assistance with arms and money to Palestine and Lebanon, Israel would be corralled in short order, and can be kept on a short leash for the foreseeable future. [subjunctive mood; not a typo]
That one was easy. It is all in clear Black and White, with Israel and the United States all in Black, and the heroic resistance of Iran, Palestine, and Lebanon against the thoroughly evil Zionist “Greater Israel” project all in White. But the problem in Ukraine is not so simple, as there is plenty of Grey all over the map. To begin with, the initial problem was all about the perfidy of NATO (read: the United States) and the promises back in 1990 not to advance the NATO line “one inch to the East,” in return for German reunification.
The Minsk Agreements were perfectly reasonable, especially in comparison with all the mayhem which has followed as the alternative. Both the Donbas and Crimea were largely Russian in language and ethnicity, so a solution along the lines of an “autonomous Donbas,” nominally still part of Ukraine, but entirely autonomous, together with the abandonment of any idea of Ukraine joining NATO or the European Union, but remaining as a neutral buffer zone between NATO and Russia seems workable and reasonable. That can be a first offer, but when Russia haggles for better terms, all sanctions can be lifted, and the Crimea can even be allowed to remain in Russian hands. This may all sound like capitulation to Russia, but the war has to stop, and there are no better options for Ukraine. Even if the Donbas region remains entirely “independent,” Ukraine has no realistic expectations of recovering sovereignty over them any time soon, and the situation only deteriorates further from here. There is a time when prudence suggests cutting your losses and attempting to go on with what remains of life.
Both Russia and the West may dream of better terms, but it seems to me that an agreement along those lines would be so much better than the current forever war in which both Ukraine and Russia are suffering enormous losses in money, lives lost, and destroyed infrastructure, without even considering the direct negative consequences to the environment in terms of climate change and further degradation of the biosphere.
There are so many other issues we need to get to quickly, such as the loss of the Trees, the death of the oceans, the proliferation of microplastics, and so much more, but all of those very serious issues are shoved to the back burner while hot war rages. And, yes, it is very hot, and getting hotter by the day.
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Curriculum Vitae ~ links about the Author and his work.
