[Peace-discuss] Kathy Kelly in Russia - "The Stakes Are Enormously High Along the Russian Border"

[Stuart Levy]

Kathy Kelly writes from Russia ...

http://commondreams.org/views/2016/06/24/stakes-are-enormously-high-along-russian-border

e.g.

    In 1954 the Soviet government transferred this largely
    Russian-speaking area from Russia to the Ukraine. In 2014, after
    Ukraine's elected president was ousted and its new government formed
    in part by avowed neo-Nazis, Russia occupied the Crimea and after
    overwhelmingly winning an uncomfortably hasty vote, annexed it or
    “reunited” the Crimean peninsula with Russia, depending on who
    describes the history.  The Ukraine ouster, it is widely believed
    here and in much of the world outside the United States, is
    considered to have been engineered by the United States and NATO. 
    What plays in the U.S. as Russian aggression is seen by many here as
    a response to antidemocratic NATO interference along the Russian border.


    [...]

    The Federation of American Scientists, in its 2016 inventory of
    nuclear forces, states that approximately 93 percent of all nuclear
    warheads
    <http://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/status-world-nuclear-forces/>are
    owned by Russia and the United States who each have roughly
    4,500-4,700 warheads in their military stockpiles.

    Konstatin, a veteran from the USSR war in Afghanistan, now a
    grandfather, spoke to us about Yalta’s history during World War II. 
    “Manypeople perished here,” he said. “More than a million perished
    during WWII. This tourist resort was founded from the bones of
    people killed in the war.” Some 22 million Russians overall died
    during World War II, most of them civilians.  Konstatin urged all of
    us to find ways for avoiding further war, and he spoke about how
    funds spent on weapons are crucially needed to help heal children
    afflicted by disease or hunger. 

    Julia, a University student who wants to become an interpreter
    working with diplomats, said that she is glad and grateful never to
    have lived through a war." I always want to choose words instead of
    weapons,” Julia said.

    We asked university students what they thought of prospects for
    abolition of nuclear weapons. Anton, who studies engineering, told
    us that he believes “the youth of different countries would like to
    bridge the gap and work out ways to unite people.”  His words are
    extremely important now, as Russia and the U.S., possessing such
    huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons, engage in intensifying
    conflict.  “All of us should soften the geopolitical relations
    between our countries,” Anton continued, “and try to get together on
    the same level, on the same ground.  The idea of this future should
    be attractive to everyone and enable us to solve ecological
    problems. And if we all put efforts into reaching this idea of
    development and creativity, in the future, then the nuclear
    abolition will be something we can accomplish”

    In 1954 the Soviet government transferred this largely
    Russian-speaking area from Russia to the Ukraine. In 2014, after
    Ukraine's elected president was ousted and its new government formed
    in part by avowed neo-Nazis, Russia occupied the Crimea and after
    overwhelmingly winning an uncomfortably hasty vote, annexed it or
    “reunited” the Crimean peninsula with Russia, depending on who
    describes the history.  The Ukraine ouster, it is widely believed
    here and in much of the world outside the United States, is
    considered to have been engineered by the United States and NATO. 
    What plays in the U.S. as Russian aggression is seen by many here as
    a response to antidemocratic NATO interference along the Russian border.

    It can be credibly argued that at its creation NATO’s mission was
    essentially defensive. Stalin was a terrifying dictator, suffering
    from increasing psychosis, with a long history of betraying even
    those who seemed to be his closest allies. Yet, as one Russian World
    War II veteran noted, the Russians had not tried to take over other
    countries far from their borders.  They actually had been very
    cautious and conservative about extending the boundaries or reach of
    the Soviet empire by military force, and after World War II Russia
    needed to focus on rebuilding the internal Soviet economy and society.

    The continuously assertive military posturing of NATO undermines and
    conflicts with the mission and development of instruments for
    international negotiation and constructive cooperation. Among the
    most striking examples in recent years are:

      * the decision to expand NATO into eastern and southern Europe by
        accepting the membership or candidacy of countries as far south
        as Georgia;
      * the 2001 decision by George Bush to abrogate the U.S. – Russian
        Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems treaty and to build a so-called
        ballistic missile shield system in East European countries,
        allegedly intended to protect against prospective Iranian
        missile launches directed toward Europe;
      * the 2001 to the present decisions by the U.S. and NATO to invade
        Afghanistan and to establish long term military bases there,
        anchoring a military presence in the center of Central Asia.

    New conflicts around the Ukraine are still brewing.

[...]




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