A Poignant and Demanding Plea for Peace--from my Daughter, Susan--Se Speaks for Me!

War dehumanizes every single one of us. ** I respect and am grateful for our armed service members. I am. I am not in agreement with the war the US is fighting in Iran. I am not. ** People in Iran are just like us. They are dealing with the same challenges of human frailty that we all encounter at some point in our lives: aging, raising and educating our children while working, chronic illness, caring for a loved one—birth and death. When you think about it, getting a hot meal on the table is a feat: you’ve got to have access to a food source (like a garden or for most of us, a grocery store), you need a heat source (like gas or electricity) to cook with, and you need a water source in order to both prepare and clean up the meal. In a war zone, the feasibility of any one of these steps could easily be compromised. The people of Iran try to deal with all of the same human challenges we do while bombs fall across their cities, plumes of smoke fill their skies, and soot coats their homes (in areas near bombed oil fields). They have to risk being in harm’s way to go out and do the business of everyday living. They don’t know if a trip to the doctor or work or the grocery store might cost them their lives, if a bomb explodes--as they do--without warning. I don’t know what it’s like to live in a war zone. But, from afar, I think of these people who are just like me—trying to do their everyday in the midst of chaos and blind destruction. ** I Do Not Celebrate When Pete Hegseth boasts that today will be most the intensified strikes yet, I do not celebrate. When the lives of at least 13 American service members are lost and hundreds more wounded, I do not celebrate. When houses, hospitals and infrastructure of Iranian towns and cities are demolished, I do not celebrate. When over 1300 Iranian civilians have been killed, I do not celebrate. When the US blows up oil refineries and black plumes of smoke fill the skies- making it difficult for civilians to breath, I do not celebrate. When a school is targeted by US tomahawks- 168 young girls and 14 of their teachers Perish in the explosions- Their remains buried in rubble, I do not celebrate. When ancient cultural sites- Emblems of human civilization Are not spared from warfare, I do not celebrate. When 773 people are killed in Lebanon 100 of whom are children, I do not celebrate. In less than 2 weeks, When 4 million people are displaced in Iran and Lebanon alone, I do not celebrate. When the American and Israeli bombs and missile strikes end, I will be grateful. When the US restores its balance of powers, I will be grateful. When democratic processes and the rule of law lead to the instillation of the next US president, I will be grateful. When people living in the Middle East, especially Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, experience peace, freedom and revitalization, I will be grateful. When the people of Israel who suffered through the atrocities of October 7 find healing, I will be grateful. When the world is such that an assault like October 7 is an impossibility, I will be grateful. When citizens and immigrants in the US who are struggling receive the resources they need, I will be grateful. When the US prioritizes education, health, science, arts and infrastructure at home, I will be grateful. For any mercy, forgiveness and goodwill the United States receives, I will be grateful. When parks and gardens grow in the place of rubble and concrete, I will be grateful. When alliances across all nations, protect and care for . every child, every human, every living thing. I will celebrate. How about you?

We Are Losing Our Moral Moorings

We Are Losing our Moral Moorings Everywhere I look, I grow more concerned that we as a country and as a world are losing our moral moorings. Admittedly, imperfectly, we left World War II committed to putting in place a set of controls, a set of limits, a commitment to international law, a set of moral understandings, that would limit, if not prevent, the spread of war. We committed to recognize national boundaries. We committed to avoid needless civilian deaths. We committed, in one Presidential inaugural address after another, to respect the way other people lived, while defending our most important national interests. What has followed is that we have begun incursions into one country after another, in the first instance to combat terrorism but, in the end -- and maybe at the very heart of it from the start--it turned into a misbeggoten all-out campaigns to change the way they live. This was true in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Libya and now in Iran and Cuba. We have a president that undercuts those very institutions (education, law) that have made us the nation we have become. The balance of power, so carefully put in place by our founders, is being neutered because the Congress is stepping aside from its responsibilities, including declaring what is war and what is not. As it has been said, and I have said, in the end, morals begin at home. And I draw hope and confidence from this reality because at home the majority of Americans want the same things: they want security, they want good health and the opportunity to achieve a sustaining livelihood, and they want the freedom to say what they believe. Again and again, I am reminded of the importance of human agency--of the difference that an individual leader can make. I think of the impact of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and of Dwight Eisenhower. Contrarily, I think of the devastating impact of President Donald J. Trump. I believe his presidency will go down in history as the proverbial road that should NOT have been taken. It grew out of voter's frustration that the government was not delivering what people want. So they reached for someone who they thought could be a savior, turn the system on its head and make it better. Tragically, this is not proving the case. So much depends now on the results of the mid-term (2026) elections and the 2028 presidential election. I hope and pray that the outcome will see us with leadership committed to restoring moral guidelines and actions that we are consistent with what we want in our own family and our Nation at its best.

Whither Ukraine?

I wrote this on the eve (one month before).of Russia's invading Ukraine, 4 years ago today. Leaders have failed to identify and implement an agreement for a lasting peace. Hundreds of thousands men and women have lost their lives as a result. Infrastructure has been decimated. It is all so senseless, cruel and unnecessary. May that agreement come soon. Lives are being lost as I type this. Whither Ukraine? January 27, 2022 Whither Ukraine? This is such a maddening and perplexing issue to me. Here I am on the outside, having read a huge amount of Russian history and a fair amount of Ukrainian history, too. Having come to know and appreciate a good number of Russian men and women whom I respect. Here we are with lots of smart, “well-meaning” people around the table, trying to reach a peaceful solution that has staying power, not a temporary Band-Aid, which is what we have had for at least the past seven years and which has not stopped the bleeding. My thoughts start with the people of Ukraine and the nation of Ukraine. What is right for them? How can this suffering be stopped? The uncertainty reduced? My thoughts continue with asking what is in the interest of Russia, the Russian people, and the people in the West? You know what they all want more than anything? It is Peace ...Peace in their lives. You ask yourself: Who really needs Ukraine, other than Ukrainians? Russia doesn't need it. Yes, they need to be assured that there isn’t a competitive force like NATO there on their borders, threatening them. They need to know that the relationship of Ukraine with Russia will be strong, economically, socially, as it has been for much of history. But they don’t need the land; they don’t need the economic resources. They need access to them, yes, just like they need access to resources in Germany and many other countries, but not in an exclusive sense. NATO doesn't’need Ukraine. To the contrary, it’s the last thing it needs. It can’t and wouldn't defend Ukraine. Ukraine wouldn’t be ready for NATO even if it were right for them to join. They have their own huge issues to deal with and they need support and not competition among contending nations to resolve them. The U.S. doesn't’ need Ukraine. It’s thousands of miles from us. We have virtually no dependency or relationship with it economically. And, heaven knows, we have an abundance of our own issues at this moment. The Russian people don’t want a war with Ukraine. Yes, they are proud and patriotic and they want to see Russia be respected as a nation. But the last thing the great majority of Russian people want is to see their soldiers mired in Ukraine, as they were for a decade in Afghanistan, and their economy, already challenged, torn further apart because of sanctions that would follow Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. There is a big issue, there is no hiding from it. The majority of the people in the Donbas and Luhansk region have a strong and historically rooted cultural attachment to Russia. If a plebiscite were held today, they might well vote to join Russia. But that doesn't’ have to happen to resolve the issue. It isn't the right way to resolve it. While not fully comparable, we have the example of French-speaking Quebec, where a different language and way of life is honored, including by providing certain identified decision-making rights and autonomy that accrue to that region. Spain has lived, not comfortably admittedly, but without war with Catalonia which has its own language and cultural norms. What has to happen for a solution to be reached? I’m no diplomatic guru. What I suggest below is flawed and incomplete. But it seems to me, from everything I’ve learned, there are a few things to be considered. Discussions to implement the Minsk II accord, this time with the participation of the U.S., need to resume. It seems to me the provisions of this accord include the key elements to achieve a lasting peaceful settlement. They need to provide for the right degree of autonomy for the Donbas and Luhansk regions. There needs to be agreement that Ukraine will not be the site of armed forces for any nation other than Ukraine which pose or appear to pose a threat to a neighboring nation. That is, NATO will not put weapons into Ukraine. At the same time, Russia will remove its troops and military equipment at its border with Ukraine and will not threaten its sovereignty in any other way. We resolved the Cuban Missile crisis in much this way and avoided what could have been WW III. The Soviet Union withdrew its missiles and troops. NATO withdrew its missiles from Turkey which the Soviet Union had seen as a dagger point at its heartland. The attitude toward Ukraine should be: “Live and let live.” Allow Ukraine to develop economic and diplomatic relationships with Russia and the West and whichever other countries they want to. To achieve an agreement of this type, there will need to be the creation of mutual trust and a commitment to achieve the common goal of a peaceful and independent Ukraine free of the impact of intervention by contending forces. This will not be easy. The last seven years of fruitless discussions show that. But the crisis in front of us demands we try. The alternatives are grossly unacceptable. I hope and pray this will be the outcome. Anything else is crazy and counter to the interest of every party. There have been parallels drawn between our (the U.S.) being involved in Ukraine to our becoming involved in Vietnam. The argument there is that what happens in Ukraine is not in our national interest any more than it was in our interest to embark on the ten-year war in Vietnam. I don’t agree with that analogy. I think a peaceful resolution of this boiling issue is both in our interest and in the world’s interest. In shades that make me shudder, however, I see in all this many elements which led up to World War I. Conflagration in a small part of the world, in that case Serbia, leading to a catastrophic war which resulted in over 20 million deaths. Countries went to war, one by one, which really didn’t want to go to war. It all happened as dominoes fell. One thing followed another. We dare not allow that to happen now. Especially in this nuclear age. Posted by John Pepper Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest

A Sobering, Tragic Look Back on What Trump Has Wrought Today

In august, 1939, just prior to Germany's invasion of Poland, the British Ambassador of Poland was heard to lament that Hitler's rise had taken all the satisfaction out of diplomacy. "Being an ambassador used to be a gentlemen's job, now it's a question of fighting with gangsters... you might as well try to make a deal with Al Capone".

The Power of "Trust"

I recently read two lengthy interviews with the late Joan Didion. At that time, I had not read any of her heralded works of fiction and non-fiction. I knew she had been a regular contributor to "The New York Review of Books". Here is the segment of the interview which impacted me, as it underscored the power of TRUST: Believing in a person, showing you believe, letting them go.... Question: "Three years later you started writing for The New York Review of Books. Was that daunting? In your essay ‘Why I Write’ you express trepidation about intellectual, or ostensibly intellectual, matters. What freed you up enough to do that work for Bob? " The tough editor of the Review. DIDION "His trust. Nothing else. I couldn’t even have imagined it if he hadn’t responded. He recognized that it was a learning experience for me. Domestic politics, for example, was something I simply knew nothing about. And I had no interest. But Bob kept pushing me in that direction. He is really good at ascertaining what might interest you at any given moment and then just throwing a bunch of stuff at you that might or might not be related, and letting you go with it.

We Are Crossing A Line I Have Seen Us Cross Before--60 Years Ago--Over the War In Vietnam

It took hundreds of thousands of lives. Unrelenting domestic protests, first led by students and then by people everywhere. But finally it became unmistakably clear in 1965-66 to President Johnson and Defense Secretary, McNamara. This war which we had entered so reluctantly and had waged, despite the strong outspoken judgement of leaders such as George Ball,and the grave doubts of the President and McNamara themselves--it was NOT winnable. But still..the killing continued. We know it is very difficult for people to admit they are wrong, especially if they have convinced themselves that they are fighting for a just cause. Have we crossed the line now? I cannot be sure. But I am reading a superb book right now, "McNamara At War:A New History" written by Philip and William Taubman. It tells the story of the tragic and ill-fated Vietnam war and the flawed reasoning which led to its escalation. Back then, there was the fear that failing to WIN in Vietnam would give license to communists to take over southeast Asia. Today, Trump and his supporters argue that the actions ICE is taking are needed to overcome the years of open borders. Yet..yet in a matter of about 10 days, TWO US CITIZENS have been shot dead by ICE agents-- most of whom are utterly unprepared to deal with the situations they face. (Again, striking similarity to the unfamiliar situation our troops faced in Vietnam). Today we witness a traumatized five-year old boy being ushered to a police car in the bitter cold. And we see an old man of perhaps my age being led out of his home in his pajamas. (Back then, in 1965, a man protesting immolates himself outside McNamara's office at the Pentagon. McNamara's children privately tell their father his is doing the wrong thing). This morningm I am inspired by the men and women who are still standing out in the freezing cold in Minneapolis, day after day,to protest this enactment of a police state,to support their neighbors and to signal unmistakenably and bravely how they want their community to live and how they want it NOT to live. I have seen this scene before. Sometimes--too often-- the protests have petered out. But sometimes they haven't.They did not in Vietnam.I believe this is a time that they won't peter out. I hope I am right. Will Republican leaders in substantial numbers stand up for what they know is right. They have been unwilling to do that so far.I hope and pray they will today, recognizing our nation's very future is at stake. We have crossed a line, there is no doubt about that. There should be no looking back. I hope there will not be, I further hope that the mid-term elections, nine months from now, will serve as a vivid rebuke to the many self-crippling policies and the all too prevalent immoral character of the Trump Administration. This will be the opportunity for all the voters of our Nation to declare the future they want to experience for themselves and their families.

Tolstoy on Lincoln and the Greatness of His Character

"Now why was Lincoln so great that he overshadows all other national heroes. He was not a great general like Napoleon or Washington; he was not such a skillful statesman as Gladstone or Frederick the great; but his supremacy expresses itself altogether in his peculiar moral power and the greatness of his character"