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My Dilemma with War -- A Personal Reflection

April 02, 2023 7:23 PM | Deirdre Marlowe (Administrator)

by Yosi McIntire

With a reason for every war and a war for every reason, what hope is there for peace? War is always a tragedy for all concerned. Every war challenges international law as well as the authority and credibility of the UN and its Charter—designed in 1945 to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” 

My entire life I’ve questioned wars from different perspectives. I have been opposed to all wars. But Chapter VII of the UN regulates “Actions with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression.” However, we have seen NATO’s military campaigns in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq egregiously violate Art. 2(4) with impunity. Art. 2(4) states:  

All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. 

All UN member states have an obligation to settle differences by peaceful means through in-good-faith negotiations. Now we see the Russian military violating the UN Charter. And again, I find myself seeing nations resort to war. Each new war brings flashbacks of countless others where international law was transgressed. I wonder if the credibility of the UN Charter will ever be real. 

In the Ukraine, each side makes competing arguments concerning international laws. One focuses on international order, the other on justice and rights. Each thinks the other’s reasoning is a ploy. The position of the US and NATO rests on the principle of sovereign rights, non-intervention, and a state’s right to choose their allies—the integrity of sovereignty.  

On the other side, Russia has for years considered NATO’s expansion to her borders an existential threat.  The vast majority of the population in Crimea and in the Donbas identify as Russian. So, Russia also points to the right to self-determination and the responsibility to protect people in harm’s way. (See editor’s note below.) 

At some point, the fighting will stop. The sooner the better! Clearly the European Union, Ukraine, and Russia would do better if instead of fighting, they cooperated with one another. Eventually a security architecture that takes into account the national security concerns of all countries—including Russia—will be found. The perpetuation of war only escalates death and destruction, increases global climate change and global food-insecurity, and risks global nuclear engagement. 

Editor’s Note: Shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine held a national referendum in which more than 90% of its population voted to make Ukraine an independent state. In 1994, the U.S., Boris Yeltsin as President of the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom signed the Budapest Memorandum with Ukraine. In exchange for Ukraine’s surrender of all nuclear weapons, they pledged to respect Ukraine's independence and sovereignty within its existing borders, and refrain from the threat or the use of force against them. 


Comments

  • April 06, 2023 3:54 PM | Anonymous member
    The editor ‘s comment is misplaced. Her facts are wrong:
    Very soon after the US-rigged coup in Kiev, the people of Crimea organized among themselves to execute an internal referendum that resulted in the great majority of Crimeans electing to reunite with Russia rather than continue being part of a corrupted Ukraine.
    The editor’s analogy with Mexico taking over El Paso is completely non-sensical.

    Sent from my iPhone

    On Apr 1, 2023, at 10:15, Deirdre Marlowe <no-reply@sharepointonline.com> wrote:

    
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    P&J - My Dilemma with War.docx
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    Deirdre Marlowe added a comment
    The Russian annexation of the Crimea and encouragement of separatists were what put people in harm's way. It's as if Mexico decided to reclaim El Paso, TX because nearly 82% of the population is of Latino descent.
    …ion to her borders an existential threat. It itsexpense of another. The vast majority of the population in Crimea and in the Donbas identify as Russian. So, Russia also points to the right to self-determination and the responsibility to protect people in harm’s way. (See editor’s note below.)
    At some point, the fighting will stop. The sooner the better! Clearly the European Union, Ukraine, and Russia would do better if instead of fighting, they cooperated with one another. Eventually a security…
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  • April 07, 2023 8:47 AM | Dave Lippman
    I have to differ with my good friend on a couple points. The NATO intervention in Yugoslavia, while badly executed, was a response to the fascist aggressions of Serbia (and Croatia) against their neighbors, threatening to decimate them. Just because the US, the champion of unwarranted interventions and coups in the world, enacted this bombing does not mean there was no excuse for it.
    One could say that there should always be negotiations instead of war, but this advise rings hollow when one or more parties are intent on conquest. In the case of Ukraine, the revanchist Russian empire is bent on its dismemberment if not its entire destruction. All countries in eastern Europe fear the resurgence of Russian domination, and therefore want to join a cabal I hold no affection for, NATO. Their choice is understandable.
    What does "identify as Russian" mean? That they speak that language? That they want to be free from Ukraine and join Russia? Is that the case? Not so simple. What's simple is that a large power invaded a small country with no legal or moral justification. Appeals to that power to negotiate avoid the simple fact that, as with the Axis in WWII, they can only be defeated, not appeased.
    I wish the world were otherwise, but it ain't.
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    • April 07, 2023 10:39 AM | Dave Lippman
      Regarding the contention by Anonymous that Crimeans voted to join Russia, that referendum was disputed, as it was held under Russian occupation, with soldiers in charge. Also, it was boycotted by the Tatars, indigenous people who were deported to Siberia in 1944 have been repressed under the new Russian regime:
      Mosques, schools (madrasas), community centres, firms and private homes belonging to Tatars have been searched and raided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (“anti-extremism” special branch), prosecutors and the Special Purpose Police, as well as so-called “self-defence forces”. The Crimean Tatars’ only independent television station, ATR, has come under heavy pressure and many activists, journalists and bloggers have been forced to leave Crimea. (Guardian, 11-25-2014)
      A referendum the previous year had opposite results.
      By the way, I don't approve of NATO or the US government's power moves either. But let's call an invasion and regional domination what it is.
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