Vicki Elson: Biden — Stop risking nuclear war

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Nov. 21, 2024, rescue workers put out a fire of a building which was heavily damaged by a Russian strike on Dnipro, Ukraine. Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP
Published: 12-09-2024 2:09 PM |
For a fleeting second, I had a dewy-eyed dream that in the waning days of the current administration, Biden might do something bold and beautiful. Like, say, signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and starting a real dialogue between the nuclear nations about disarmament once and for all.
What he has done instead is drive the U.S. closer to a nuclear war with Russia by arming Ukraine with weapons to attack deep inside Russia’s borders — missiles that are targeted and guided by U.S. personnel. Now what? I’m planning to learn more at a public forum called “Ending the Ukraine War: What Should U.S. Policy Be in 2025?” It’s Tuesday, Dec. 10, 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Forbes Library, 20 West Street, Northampton. It will also be livestreamed and recorded on the library’s YouTube channel.
John Feffer of Amherst, director of the Foreign Policy in Focus program of Institute for Policy Studies in Washington D.C., will discuss his view that the U.S. should continue arming Ukraine in order to defeat Russia, or at least gain the best possible negotiated settlement. John Berkowitz, a Northampton member of Massachusetts Peace Action’s Peace in Ukraine Campaign, and Benjamin Abelow, MD, Great Barrington author of “How the West Brought War to Ukraine” (2022), will discuss their view that the U.S. should stop escalating the war and “poking the Russian bear” in favor of an immediate negotiated settlement. In any case, let’s not sleepwalk into nuclear catastrophe.
Vicki Elson
Northampton