Appeasement Does Not Lead to Peace

In “Sleepwalking into WWIII,” the writer castigates the U.S. for violations of the Minsk Accords as it relates to the brutal Russian aggression against the sovereign nation of Ukraine. There were actually two agreements: the Minsk Protocols of September 2014 and the Minsk Agreement of February 2015. Both documents called for a ceasefire, withdrawal of foreign military forces, disbanding of illegal armed groups such as the Russian-backed separatists LPR and DPR, and returning control of the Ukrainian side of the international border with Russia to Ukraine.

Was it the U.S. or Ukraine who was in violation or was it, in fact, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin who repeatedly ignored every aspect of those agreements? As far as Ukraine joining NATO or not, that is their decision and theirs alone. NATO’s Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are already on Russia’s border, as will be their newest member, Finland. Will they be next on Putin’s “hit list”?

Concerns about our bloated military budget are legitimate as are concerns about war’s environmental destruction. But the writer, Marcy Winograd, then writes about peace “for the greater good, to end human suffering.” How many dead bodies of men, women, and children must line the streets of Ukrainian cities, towns and villages before some leave their ivory towers and take a giant leap into reality?

Putin has ordered the bombing of hospitals, maternity wards, schools, day care centers, and apartment buildings. So, let’s stop recycling this trash about the greater good and an end to human suffering. Appeasement didn’t work in Munich in 1938 and it won’t work now. Abandoning our democratic Ukrainian ally is not, and never should be, an option.

Glory to Ukraine.