I’m shocked… SHOCKED I tell you, to learn that the U.S., Russia talks have failed to ease the Ukraine crisis.
PARIS—Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart appeared to make no major advances Sunday in a four-hour meeting aimed at easing the standoff over Ukraine, raising the specter of a prolonged crisis that threatens to bring broader instability to Europe.
Mr. Kerry, in remarks after the negotiations, said he received no assurances from the Kremlin that it would pull back thousands of Russian troops amassed on Ukraine’s eastern border.
We finally have in office an administration dedicated to what was explained to me years ago (by a very angry pacifist) as “the new paradigm” — one based on peace instead of war.
Amazingly, the forces of peace and non-violence did not prevail over the forces of violence.
The problem is, a lot of people on the left (and a majority of antiwar activists) desperately want to believe in the pacifist narrative. (One especially angry wealthy pacifist yelled at me last year over dinner that “war is an outmoded paradigm!” and that the new peace paradigm would win. My skepticism infuriated her, and she didn’t look very peaceful. I’d be willing to bet that she doesn’t want to think about Burma in relation to the “new” paradigm.)
What would it take to persuade Putin to get with the program? Perhaps music. Maybe Obama and Kerry and their fellow peace paradigmers could all link themselves together into a human chain in front of Putin’s palace, and sing moving anthems like “Give Peace a Chance” and “Imagine.”
Putin would then see just how outmoded his old paradigm is and simply melt away like historic baddies always have.
Comments
16 responses to “How’s that new peace paradigm workin’ for ya?”
Hey there is nothing stoping you chicken hawks from forming an ayn rand brigade (Abraham Lincoln brigade has already been taken!) go tell them just because we invaded iraq afganistan panama grenada vietnam ect, doesn’t give you the right to invade ukraine!
War is perfectly fine with these people as long as it’s not something immoral like the US defending its national interest.
Putin’s offer of a nonaligned, federal Ukraine actually makes sense and is good for everyone, especially the Ukrainians. It also lets Obama and the Euros climb down off the escalation ladder that can only lead to war.
Better yet from Russia’s viewpoint, the EU eats the Ukrainian economic disaster and bails the Ukraine out. The bail out money goes to Russia who holds the debt.
Or that old favorite “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More”.
If you want peace, prepare for war. – A Roman a long time ago.
It will be interesting next winter. Russia controls Europe’s natural gas. The anti-fracking movement has done its job.
As fox news anal-yist and vietnam war draft dogging chicken hawk coward and neo-con war criminal said lets kick commie butt over their as long as I don’t have to go over their! Thats the job of the minorities and poor ignorant white trash! I support israel as long as they don’t draft me over their to fight!
>and vietnam war draft dogging chicken hawk coward<
like bill clinton?
new- like all cons you show your ignorance! Bill clinton draft dogger yes coward maybe but chicken hawk NO! Bubba opposed vietnam war he didn’t want to go or send anyone else in his place unlike neo-con scum john bolton dick cheney rush limbo and mormon mitt. Bill cristal scooter libby and all the neo-con artists ect.
For the record, Clinton sent troops into harm’s way in Somalia, Kosovo, Iraq, and a few other places.
Anyways, I think it doesn’t really matter if Putin wants to re-fight the Cold War. All the places he covets are broken, Third-World post-Soviet wastelands of dysfunction that are going to be just as bad no matter who’s in charge.
Bob,
I agree that Ukraine is probably best off partitioned and neutral. The problem is that our chicken-hawk drone-flinging president has staked the authority of the international community on retaining Ukraine’s borders in a meaningful fashion.
So, we’ll get the worst of all worlds–the president threatens, ratchets up tensions with Russia, fails to follow through on the threats, and loses both his objective and the West’s standing in the world.
Tall-irrelevent bubba opposed vietnam war so not chicken hawk! As commander in chief he would not support vietnam war and somalia is a “REAL stain” on his presidency!
Hmm, I thought the only real stain in the Clinton presidency somehow materialized on a blue dress.
But Bubba was versatile. He demonstrated that he could make love AND war!
> so not chicken hawk!<
how about the waco war?
>so not chicken hawk! <
hillary voted for iraq 2
hillary paid dearly for that vote it made senator obama president obama! Oh and by the way did you know that vote suppression works both ways thanks to republicans on supreme court bush V gore their is no constitutional right to vote for angry old white men. Only women and minorities have constitutional amendments giving them right to vote! People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones!
I live in a grass house. I won’t stow thrones. At least, not in the attic.