The horrors inflicted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue to mount, an agonizing toll of the dead and wounded, cities and crops destroyed, civilians dismembered. Few think the worst is over. The dangers of escalation continue to grow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ramped up the use of bombs and missiles–demonstrating Russia’s capability to wreak further havoc. The U.S. and its NATO allies have increased the flow of weapons and munitions to Ukraine, while tightening even further the sanctions on Russia. Putin has placed his nuclear weapons on alert and threatened the West with retaliation. Diplomatic negotiations have reached a dead end. The economic disruptions caused by the sanctioning of Russia and the destruction in Ukraine has already begun to be felt across the world.
Faced with the Russian invasion, President Biden has done a remarkable job in uniting the allies to aid Ukraine with weapons and assistance while punishing Russia with unprecedented sanctions. He has sensibly resisted the calls from some to get the U.S. into a war with Russia that could lead to nuclear holocaust. Yet the pressure to continue to escalate grows as the fighting goes on. More than half of Americans in a recent Quinnipiac poll favor doing more to fuel the Ukrainian resistance if it doesn’t increase the risk of war with Russia. Another 20 percent favor doing more, even if it increases the risk of war. As the heart-wrenching pictures of the destruction fill our TV screens, that pressure will grow.
What’s clear is that arming the Ukrainians and sanctioning the Russians has not been able to stop the Russian invasion. While some may prefer fighting to the last Ukrainian to bleed Russia and weaken Putin, this is morally indefensible and strategically reckless.
The best hope for the Ukrainians is for President Biden to take a moral offensive – to launch a major effort to engage Putin in negotiations with the Ukrainians to bring the violence to a halt.
As Anatol Levien has argued, the outlines of the basic elements of a settlement are clear. Ukraine would commit itself to neutrality, with guarantees from the UN Security Council, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Germany, and Poland to defend it from attack. Ukraine would be free to join the European Union. After a ceasefire, Russia would withdraw troops from all territories that they have moved into since the invasion. Ukraine and Russia would enter negotiations on the status of Crimea, with guarantees against any military action to disrupt the talks. The status of the territories in the Donbass region in the east would be subject to separate negotiations. The sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion would be ended.
To help make this happen, Biden should now launch a peace initiative. Talk with President Zelensky about the elements of an agreement. Meet with the allies to gain consensus. Reach out to Putin directly to urge a ceasefire and help structure the negotiations with Ukraine while seeking to defuse the growing threats of war between Russia and the NATO allies.
Biden, no doubt, would be taking a great risk. Republicans would immediately slander him as weak. The armchair war hawks would claim that Russia is on the verge of defeat and shouldn’t be allowed to escape. Liberal interventionists would demand war crimes tribunals for Putin and his generals. Democrats will worry that they will pay the price in the elections this fall. Putin, embarrassed by the Ukrainian resistance, may well spurn the initiative.
In times of crisis, however, great leaders take on great challenges. They don’t ask what is popular but what is the right thing to do. They seek to mold opinion, not pander to popular pressure. However unpopular, a peace initiative is morally imperative and strategically wise. The destruction of Ukraine and the slaughter of civilians must be ended. The war must stop before it escalates even further – and before the economic disruption adds to hunger and poverty across the world. Sanctions and military assistance to Ukraine have not and will not end the violence. A peace initiative offers the possibility of a way out. No settlement can take place over the heads of the Ukrainian leadership, but that should not deter Biden from taking the initiative to engage the allies and Zelensky and to reach out to Putin to push for an end to the violence and a negotiated settlement. It is time to take the moral offensive.
Zelensky has invited Biden to come to Ukraine, but a better mission would be to go to Moscow and meet with Putin and ask to speak to the Federal Assembly–as well as invite Putin to the U.S. and urge Congress to allow him to speak to a joint session of Congress. Go on the moral offensive. That would be audacious and bold moral leadership and could change the trajectory of the conflict.
Continued war costs money, lives and time. Biden can be the North Star the world needs. When it’s darkest you see the stars most clearly.
You can write to the Rev. Jesse Jackson in care of this newspaper or by email at jjackson@rainbowpush.org. Follow him on Twitter @RevJJackson.
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