I agreed with the guest column about the Ukraine war in the Jan. 2 Gazette. With its third anniversary, I think President Donald Trump should do what I wish former President Biden had done — talk with Russian President Putin. They should figure out how to stop not only the awful destruction of Ukraine and the horrific loss of soldiers on both sides, but also the risk that this war could easily escalate into a direct confrontation between the US/NATO and Russia.

A leading organization of atomic scientists just changed their symbolic Doomsday Clock from 90 seconds to 89 seconds before midnight, meaning the chances of a catastrophic nuclear war are greater than ever since the clock was founded in 1947. They say that the Ukraine war is one of the dangerous flashpoints that could take us over that brink.

And even if we keep muddling through and avoid nuclear war, we’re still slowly bleeding our society to death by spending so much of our tax dollars to fund the Ukraine war ($180 billion and counting), the nuclear arms race ($100 billion annually), and the rest of the huge Pentagon budget, and less and less on meeting the human and environmental needs of our states and communities.

For example, in the Springfield/Holyoke area, increased funding for housing, health care, child care, mental health, and other essential services would improve our security and our lives far more than endless war and war spending.

Take, for example, my beautiful city of Holyoke, where so much investment is needed in our sidewalks and roads, better public transportation, street lighting, decent and safe shelters for single men and women, better paying jobs, more funding for after-school programs, investment in real environmental justice, in the possibility for rent control, and medical services in our emergency room among so many more needs.

So join me in contacting President Trump and our senators and congresspeople. Urge them to call for immediate negotiations with Russia to end the Ukraine war; for the U.S. to stop escalating the war by allowing Ukraine to use our long-range missiles to attack deep inside Russia; to not send in NATO troops to try and halt recent Russian advances; to revive the START Treaty, the strongest nuclear arms treaty we’ve got, which will soon expire; and finally, to put our tax dollars to work at home.

Gloria Caballero

Holyoke