Upcoming talks on peace in Ukraine
Anna raises in vlog 936: Putin Trump Negotiations, a question that applies to me and perhaps to all of us. For me, Anna's vlog brings back memories of when our Prime Minister criticized the US in 1972. How it started a cultural discussion in Sweden.
“Is it really peace we want at any conceivable cost?"
”In Stockholm, Prime Minister Olof Palme followed developments with growing concern. What particularly upset Palme was that, in his opinion, the bombings lacked military significance. This prompted Palme to contact a Swedish diplomat on the spot in Hanoi, Eskil Lundberg. He was able to give a completely different picture from the one relayed by the Pentagon.”
This is an issue I grew up with and it was the Vietnam War. Our Prime Minister criticized the US for the Christmas bombings in 1972. That statement hit Sweden hard with sanctions from the US. But within Sweden, it was the progressive culture that took up the ethical morality of his statement.
The most famous songwriter to take this issue further in Sweden was Mikael Wiehe in the song Peace (to Melanie). Wiehe was inspired by the American singer Melanie's song Melanie-Peace Will Come According To Plan and when he wrote the lyrics. He was hesitant about the price to pay for peace in Vietnam.
Mikael Wiehe took her lyric further with a moral question, “at any cost?” and describes it in the introduction of his song lyrics as follows.
”Is it really peace we want at any cost?
Are we absolutely sure of it, that the worst of all is war?
With peace comes friendship, forged with strong bonds.
And these ties bind evil to good and false to true.”
There was a Swedish progressive group that has translated the text into English. But remember that in the middle of the Cold War, Sweden was sandwiched between two great (imperial) powers, the USA and the USSR. That explains the name of the group. Imperiet, and their cover of Peace.
Imperiet - Ämne
Right now in the raging media driven hysteria around the issue “peace, Trump, Putin” we must not forget about Ukraine. Anna addresses in her blog vlog 936: Putin Trump Negotiations her view on peace. What really strikes a chord with me is when Anna says: “When we ourselves (Ukrainians) wish each other peace, we always say after we have won”.
Mikael Wiehe's song peace is about that but there is also an underlying historical moral issue that is expressed in both Anna's and Mikael's thoughts. During the Nuremberg trials, Lieutenant General Lucius Dubignon Clay made a statement in 1946 that raises the same moral issue.
"I do not see how you can demonstrate your ability for self-government nor your will for democracy if you are going to evade or shirk the first unpleasant and difficult task that falls upon you.
Unless there is real and rapid improvement,
I can only assume that German administration is unwilling to accept this responsibility."
That statement can today be attributed to Russia in upcoming peace negotiations.
Ukraine will be on its own in upcoming peace talks on the issues that are most important to them. There are strong external powers in these negotiations that want to influence the outcome in their favor. I can only hope that the EU will be able to respect Ukraine and fully support the path that Ukraine wants to take in these negotiations. That Ukraine can speak for the whole EU in these talks.
On the issue of peace with Russia, we in the EU have the same interest but also the same problems as Ukraine. We can clearly see now that the world has changed since 20 January. In the West, we have a new power structure that challenges our own unity within the EU. The power structure does not hesitate to utter threatening words either. We are back in a world where two big powers are trying to squeeze both Ukraine and the EU with their own interests.
We in the EU must dare to ask ourselves whether the EU military can or should at some point come under Ukrainian military control. Not to bring war to Russia, but in defense of Ukraine's right to independence within its borders. Ukraine is under military attack from a coalition of countries with bilateral military agreements and understandings.
Is it really peace we want at any cost?
Are we absolutely sure of it?
We owe it to them for their historic struggle for independence and for accepting their application to join the European Community.
Because, none of us are realy free if one of us are chained.
To conclude, I would like to leave you inspired by Solomon Burke and his song None of us are free. It is a good way to end. Because none of us (EU and Ukraine) are free until a real peace is made.
”Well you better listen my sister's and brothers, 'cause if you do you can hear there are voices still calling across the years. And they're all crying across the ocean, and they're cryin' across the land.
And they will till we all come to understand.
None of us are free, one of us are chained.”
Thank you for listening and reading
Lars-Erik Jonsson