by John Schuchardt
History, context, and geography are essential for understanding. I recommend the perspectives of leading Veterans for Peace members Bruce Gagnon (Keep Space for Peace) and Regis Tremblay films (living now for 2 years in Yalta, Crimea) both available on Web and Youtube.
Essential: Oliver Stone “Ukraine on Fire.” (90 minutes on Youtube)
I was fortunate to spend a month in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Crimea in 2019 with a citizen diplomacy delegation organized by Bruce, opening eyes to much. It was shaking to participate in May 9th Liberation from Fascism march with many more than a million silently streaming down Nevsky Blvd. to the Winter Palace, each person carrying a large photograph portrait of a relative killed in the German invasion and siege of Leningrad. If there was ever a people who love peace and seek to avoid another catastrophe it certainly is the Russians.
My perspective: On the Devil’s Chessboard we are in a world threatening escalation of a U.S. directed NATO war against Russia, begun in earnest in 2013. Ukraine is the pawn and sacrificial victim (we all may be), as the U.S. rejects giving security guarantees and is determined to add Ukraine with offensive missiles to the other 13 new nations it has seduced into NATO encircling Russia, each one breaking repeatedly the promise “to not move one inch East.”
The U.S. opened the jaws of Hell with the Manhattan Project, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.
Repentance and the abolition of war continue to be our only hope. I honor all in Veterans for Peace and our devoted years giving witness to our only hope.
— John Schuchardt, founder of the House of Peace in Ipswich, MA, is a member of Veterans for Peace Samantha Smith Chapter 45, the Plowshares Eight, Avco Plowshares and Co-Chair 2024 VFP National Convention, Boston.
