Bringing Russian and American citizens together in Peace since 1983.
by Ron Forthofer
There are dangerous provocations along Russia’s western border that have received little or incredibly one-sided coverage by the U.S. media. Thus the US public is not aware of the possibility of a major conflict between two nuclear-armed powers occurring due to an accident or misinterpretation. The genesis of this current situation goes back in ancient history to 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The dangers from a new Cold War between the U.S. and Russia have prompted American peace activists to reach out to the Russian people and to fellow Americans to urge a step back from the cliff, as Kathy Kelly describes.
By Kathy Kelly
Since 1983, Sharon Tennison has worked to develop ordinary citizens’ capacities to avert international crises, focusing on relations between the U.S. and Russia. Now, amid a rising crisis in relations between the U.S. and Russia, she has organized a delegation which assembled in Moscow for a two-week visit. I joined the group on Thursday, and happened to finish reading Sharon Tennison’s book, The Power of Impossible Ideas, when I landed in Moscow.
Friends, our current Russia trip is now on its third day. So far our trip schedule hasn’t left much time for writing an update. We’ll get you more information about what’s been happening during the trip soon. Meanwhile, the article that follows was just written by one of our group’s travelers.
Sharon
As NATO steps up military maneuvers near Russia’s borders and congressmen fume about “Russian aggression,” a delegation of Americans including former U.S. officials is looking for face-to-face ways to encourage peace, writes Ann Wright.
By Ann Wright
I just flew across 11 times zones — from Tokyo, Japan to Moscow, Russia. Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area, nearly twice as large as the United States and has extensive mineral and energy resources, the largest reserves in the world. Russia has the world’s ninth largest population with over 146.6 million people. The population of the U.S of 321.4 million is more than twice as large as Russia’s.
VLADIMIR BROVKIN(ACEWA)
June 13, 2016
Political Scientists like to explain reality in terms of familiar mental constructs, such as search for legitimacy, priority of domestic policy, newly found military strength, etc. And so what we have in these articles is a standard traditional application of those to contemporary Russian foreign policy. What is wrong with this is that it misses the emotional side of things, the gut feeling, the sense of pride and national injury.
Most Russians today, as demonstrated by numerous public opinion polls, believe that the West has encroached on their traditional territory and in the case of Ukraine that the West usurped what many believe is a part of the nation, one nation.
Hi Friends,
Within the week we leave for Russia during an extremely dangerous time. Some 31,000 armed NATO troops have stationed themselves in the Baltic countries and are doing unprecedented “war maneuvers” in preparation for a supposed Russian takeover of these three tiny states. Gigantic warships have been moved into position around Russia’s periphery, enormous amounts of military hardware stand ready for use. (BTW, there is not a shred of evidence that Russia has any intention to take a centimeter of the Baltic countries’ space.)
To understand the seriousness of it all, listen to the June 8 podcast of The John Batchelor Show’s interview with Professor Steve Cohen, America’s undisputed historian and expert on all aspects of US-USSR/Russia relations.
Cohen and other U.S. experts in the field are deeply alarmed that this NATO show of force could be the prelude to World War III, by accident or by intention.
VV Putin has made it clear that Russia will never start a war, that Russia’s military is purely defensive; but if missiles or boots land on Russian soil, Russia will “respond nuclear.” This week he stated that if there is any war-making on Russian territory, the countries which have allowed NATO missile installations on their territories will be in the “crosshairs,” thus alerting these countries they will be the first to be destroyed. Further, Putin warned NATO that Russia’s targets will include North America.