Dear CCI Friends,

Professor Jeffrey Sachs appeared before the European Parliament recently where he delivered a speech as shocking to the audience as the one given by Vice President Vance to the Munich Security Conference a few days before that.   Will Professor Sachs’ observations, based on extensive experience, shock an American audience, too?

A full transcript and audio version of his speech are attached below.  Please give his remarks your consideration and let us know what you think.  

“It’s impolite to say anything that I’m saying because we don’t speak the truth about almost anything in this world right now.”

https://singjupost.com/transcript-jeffrey-sachs-on-the-geopolitics-of-peace-in-the-european-parliament

Sincerely,
The Center for Citizen Initiatives

Dear CCI Friends,

Based on his professional research, Professor Glenn Diesen of Norway has spoken and written extensively on the Russia/USA relationship over the past twenty years. His analysis is counter to the ‘official narrative’ we in the West have been exposed to. Today we, in the US,  are beginning to see and appreciate the actual source of that narrative.  

Professor Diesen has paid a very high price for academic independence.  His experience should be a cautionary tale for all who value free speech – and peace.

“…the purge of academic freedom…”

https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/usaid-and-ngos-for-narrative-control

“….propaganda is good for war but bad for peace.”

https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/the-science-of-anti-russian-propaganda

Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs – an interview with Glenn Diesen who has been kicked off of Youtube for promoting “hate speech.”

Please share your thoughts on this critical subject.

The Center for Citizen Initiatives

Dear CCI Friends,

February 4-11, marked the 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference where Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met to thrash out the peace terms that would end the bloodiest conflict in history, World War II.  Virtually nothing marking this anniversary appeared in the Western press which is too bad; that event might serve as a reminder of what people (‘leaders’) who dislike and distrust one another (even if they are ‘allies’) can accomplish when they have the courage to sit down together in the interest of peace.

History, as Mark Twain may or may not have said, rarely repeats itself but it does rhyme.  Stephen Bryen’s article, below, explores some of those vague rhymes discernable in the tortuous road – not to peace, yet, but – to the terms that allow the combatants and enablers to talk about  how to talk about peace in Ukraine.  

“The Trump administration probably cannot negotiate a comprehensive deal for Ukraine immediately and will need to come up with an initial solution to try and halt the fighting. Doing so is a rocky road ahead, partly because the Russians have zero trust in anything coming from the west, partly because the Ukrainians are unwilling partners, and partly because Europe wants to continue the war.” (Emphasis mine.)

https://weapons.substack.com/p/the-rocky-road-to-a-ukraine-deal

Can we imagine a Yalta II?  Please give us your thoughts.

Sincerely in Peace,
Paula Day
Center for Citizen Initiatives

Dear CCI Friends,

January 27, 2025 was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army of the USSR.  Commemorative events honoring the million plus victims of the gas chambers – and the other unimaginable atrocities committed there by Germany’s Nazi regime – have been held regularly over the years but this year’s event was ‘different’, for the third time in a row.  

While kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers and dignitaries from 54 countries assembled at Auschwitz to mark the event, one country was conspicuously absent, the country whose soldiers ended the horror there 80 years ago.  Why?

Ian Proud, twenty-four year veteran of Great Britain’s Diplomatic Service including a stint as senior officer at the British Embassy in Moscow, analyses this question closely.  Please see his article, below, and let us know your thoughts on the subject.

https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/the-memorial-in-auschwitz-reminds

Best regards to you all,
Paula Day
Center for Citizen Initiatives

Dear CCI Friends,

As the tragedy in Ukraine grinds on, the question of the day seems to be, how does everyone manage to save face at the end?  Of course ‘everyone’ who considers that a serious question means only the truly uninvolved – the ruling class, the statesmen, generals, bureaucrats, intelligence experts, plus the professional and amateur analysts, bloggers, podcasters, video stars, commentators and armchair pontificators in general.  Making it a question worth dying for for those facing lethal weaponry on the front lines seems rather, well, unseemly, doesn’t it?

But they’re not speaking up too much about ‘saving face’ because they can’t; they’re too busy trying to stay alive.  Fortunately there’s one commentator/analyst willing to speak for them – in hard, cold terms.

Professor Michael Vlahos at Johns Hopkins has let a lot of the hot air out of the debate on how to end the war – for Americans at least – and his solution is simplicity itself; just tell the American people the truth.  What a concept.

https://landmarksmag.substack.com/p/accepting-the-truth-about-ukrainian

Please consider Professor Vlahos’ words carefully and let us know what you think.

Sincerely,
Paula Day
Center for Citizen Initiatives