Midnight, April 13, 2018: I arrived home from Washington, D.C. with deep apprehensions regarding whether we as a nation, a world, a planet will make it through the dangerous turnstile in which we find ourselves.
Mood in Washington, April 8 – 13: The immediate possibility of war between Syria and Russia was on TV screens in hotel lobbies and congressional waiting rooms, and tensions were felt behind closed doors in nearly every meeting. It felt like our capital was completely “locked down.” No one wanted to mention their positions on current issues. I’d never before experienced the city like this.
Simultaneously, young families visiting Washington were innocently enjoying historic monuments, etc. In impromptu inquiries, I asked if they were paying attention to politics and got nonchalant answers back. Apparently they were unaware of the current situation. How could they not be aware? Maybe they view TV news as hyped up fictional TV programs? What a disconnect!
On April 8th in D.C.: Decisions whether President Trump and the U.S. would bomb Syria were being formulated … to which Russia had already warned it would respond in kind if any Russian troops or sites are hit––and those in the know, knew it could “go nuclear” in a matter of minutes. Some Republican and Democratic Congress members were egging the “Bomb Syria” notion on, as were CNN and other TV outlets. I was shocked at their confidence in America’s right to do so––coupled with the fact that a nuclear war might be the result.
Meanwhile CCI’s team of four Russian women and I were there to give our points of view on the highly-charged conflict between Washington and Russia. In the past, I’ve easily scheduled numbers of Congressional meetings; this time it was extremely difficult to even meet with Members’ young legislative assistants. When we did, with one exception, it was clear they had heard only one version of the conflict and assumed “it’s all Putin’s fault.” However, I was able to have a few intimate discussions with both Democrats and Republicans. I think these doors will remain open to us as we move through this dangerous period. Since I assured confidentiality, I have no information to pass on right now except my own sense of the atmosphere in D.C.
One of our D.C. meetings was cancelled due to what was said by the Russians in an earlier meeting elsewhere. They commented on media freedoms and happenings in Crimea, and these comments were apparently considered unacceptable. What does this say about the value of rigorous debate of issues, the necessity of multiple points of view and, for that matter, freedom of speech in our country today––particularly when our nation is about to go to war? I went to sleep on April 11th wondering if I would wake up in the morning. It was a bizarre sense of today’s reality; later it became known it was an ‘assumed’ chemical weapons depot with no casualties.
Frankly, I’m relieved. It seems it was all for show. It’s reported that before, during and after the strike, American and Russian representatives were on the phone constantly communicating with each other. Why? No doubt they both hoped to avoid any situation where Russians might be hit. So was this a serious strike? Seems to me this was more like a safety valve release. Trump had talked big, made frightening gestures … and something had to happen. So a carefully controlled strike was carried out.
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This situation won’t end here. The reality behind it all is far too complex and loaded with intentions which aren’t voiced outside of war rooms.
WHAT CAN BE DONE? Build Public Awareness! I remember in November 2015, when hundreds of us from all over America traveled to Washington for a “U.S.-Russia Congressional Hearing” in the Rayburn Building. This building houses offices for hundreds of U.S. Congress members. Expert speakers included Russian historian Professor Steve Cohen; John Pepper, former CEO and Chairman of the Board at Proctor & Gamble; our quintessential Ambassador Jack Matlock and two other experts. Unfortunately, only half a dozen Congress members showed up; some left shortly after arriving, a few others wandered in for a few minutes. All of them knew about this Hearing well in advance. Their absence was a statement. The experts gave their speeches as though Members were present.
At the end of the Hearing, Ambassador Matlock stood and said something like the following… Change will come only from the bottom, we must build public awareness across this country. We all understood the gravity of the situation and his words. On the return trip home, I began developing a plan to create a nationwide public awareness campaign. Once completed, I began trying to get others interested. So far the plan is still in its “moth-balls” stage. However, it is still doable — maybe now with the ante for war much higher, others will be interested. It would take about a year to cover the nation. Anyone interested in knowing more about this plan?
No doubt there is power in “public awareness.” Many of us remember that public awareness finally brought down segregation of schools across America, it took down Richard Nixon as president, it ended the tragic Vietnam war. Most recently, the acceptance of gay rights and gay marriage is an example where public awareness brought an end to decades, if not centuries, of negative stereotyping and second-class citizenship.
THE DANGER OF IMMINENT WAR: On March 1, Vladimir Putin revealed Russia’s new defensive/offensive weapons. He reiterated Russia would never start a war, but gave the warning that if any U.S. missiles land on Russian territory or if Russian personnel are hit on the territory of a partner nation such as Syria, Russia’s new weapons will retaliate. Such a situation could easily be the launch of WWIII.
We as a nation MUST give up our preoccupation with War … yes, we need to protect our own country if it is attacked. But, we should ban invading other countries or using proxies to do destabilizing work for us. Other countries have the right to their own different evolutionary tracks and traditions. We need to follow President Kennedy’s intention and built sane programs like the Peace Corps and other self-help programs rather than using force against others. How about creating trilateral or quadrilateral programs wherein Americans, Russians, and Chinese could go to North Korea or other countries to work on projects as CCI did in Russia in the 80’s and 90’s. If Yemen stabilizes sufficiently, we could do the same there and in other trouble spots around the world. The U.S. must tamp down regional powers like Saudi Arabia, Israel and others — and stop providing weapons systems with which to threaten or fight other regional countries.
And yes, we must quickly build public awareness regarding this gravest of all issues, Nuclear War, which could end all life on planet Earth. Nothing is more important! By comparison, whether blacks attend white schools, whether the Vietnam war ended, whether gays marry, are all relatively small issues compared to destroying life on our planet.
Let’s develop a team of brainstormers from different states to bring together “how to” ideas, create PR materials, develop instructions on how to get the attention of Congress members and local State officials, suggestions on how to educate our youth, our colleagues, create conferences and increase investigative travel between the U.S. and Russia, start exchanges of all sorts — through Skype, Google Hangout, Zoom, etc. We must shift consciousness across the U.S. in the coming months or we will find ourselves drowning in the horrors of perpetual war. We need YOUR ideas and participation! Let us hear from you!
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The next CCI message (coming in a day or two) will delight your hearts — it’s the telling of what happened in March and April when CCI’s four Russian women made their trek across America attending multiple meetings every day, most weekends included, with mainstream Americans! Their reception with these Americans across the country was opposite of what we experienced in Washington or what we read in our newspapers or see on TV.
There were no barriers, no suspicions, only amazingly heartful happenings between Americans and Russians. Except for a couple of quite elderly men and women, there was no distrust, only interest and sharing different points of view with many hopes expressed for our common futures.
If diplomacy could be left to citizens, peace and goodwill would result across both nations.
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives
CCI’s next ‘signature’ trip to Russia the first of September will be announced next week.