We Must Bite The Bullet. Face Reality..Do What Is Right

We have to stop allowing Netanyahu and Putin to string us along. We have to stop waving our finger and pick up an unyielding and strong club in the cost of justice and humanity. Presidents Netanyahu and Putin have been stringing us along, not for days or months but for years. They say they want “peace,” just like Hitler said he wanted peace when he took over the Sudetenland. All they want is “peace” on their terms and that includes taking territory that they legally had no right to and taking over the lives of people who, in the great majority, don’t want to be with them. I’ve been all of the mind to seek a compromise that would preserve the independent rights of Palestinians and Ukrainians. But I’m afraid I’ve been on a fool’s errand. Neither Netanyahu nor Putin are prepared to accept the rightful independence of the counterparts I’ve mentioned. Putin doesn’t even admit Ukraine is a nation. Netanyahu truly has no interest in or even a glimmer of an opening to allow an independent Palestine to exist. They want land and they want control. What does this unyielding and uncompromising stick for justice and humanity mean? In the case of Russia, it means that we show unyielding intent iand applying power that expresses that intent to demonstrate Russia will not win. We need to go beyond economic sanctions to apply far more military force. I think that probably should involve boots on the ground by European nations in small measure to begin and greater ones if it doesn’t achieve its objective aided by U.S. support for those ground troops in every way needed, e.g., intelligence, air cover, etc. Does this risk a larger war? Perhaps. But so be it. The risk of larger war will loom large until there is resolution of the fundamental issue, which means… Russia must acknowledge the independent entity of Ukraine and stop any further attack on its existence. We need to have an ironclad, NATO-supported treaty in place that would defend Ukraine if Russia attacks as if they are attacking NATO countries. We should under no circumstances agree to Russia acquiring sovereignty of the Donbas region. We may well agree to a ceasefire along battle lines, but we should not confer sovereignty under any conditions. We should, of course, not allow Russia to be part of the security agreement with Ukraine which they are now saying they need to do. As to Israel, we should stop any further aid other than humanitarian aid to Israel, military or other until they stop the indiscriminate bombing and annihilation of Gaza and stop the extended settlement of people on the West Bank. They are taking land illegally given under international law to Palestine. This has to stop. We are past the point of drawing a line in the sand. Trump has tried cajoling, doing anything to get a treaty, in no small measure to get a Nobel Peace Prize for himself. It is borderline absurd. A mind-opening column in The New York Times today by M. Gessen to declaimed the stupidity of terms we are using. We talk about “swapping land” with one of the swappers (Russia) illegally holding that land. In any event, at this point Russia is laying claim to more land than they have claimed. This is outright bribery. Seeking a peace that is peace only in the name of compromise that will not resolve the fundamental issue.