US lawmakers want to Biden “seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire”. Writes Lucas Leiroz
The crisis of the American Democratic Party gets worse and worse. Lawmakers are now demanding that President Joe Biden change his bellicose stance towards Russia and create a new strategy to achieve peace in Ukraine. Recently, dozens of Democratic politicians formed a kind of “pro-peace coalition” in the House of Representatives and wrote a letter to Biden requiring a new direction in the country’s foreign policy.
On October 24, 30 Democratic lawmakers jointly announced their dissatisfaction with Biden’s Ukraine strategy. The group was led by Pramila Jayapal, a well-known Democratic politician noted for her pro-human rights activism. Jayapal currently chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Democrats’ main left-wing faction. According to her, in order to attend the interests of the Ukrainian people and achieve peace, the US government needs to revise its strategy.
The letter reads as follows: “We urge you [US President Joe Biden] to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire (…) The alternative to diplomacy is protracted war, with both its attendant certainties and catastrophic and unknowable risks (…) if there is a way to end the war while preserving a free and independent Ukraine, it is America’s responsibility to pursue every diplomatic avenue to support such a solution that is acceptable to the people of Ukraine”.
In other parts of the letter, lawmakers explain how anti-strategic it is for allied nations to maintain war for a prolonged time, considering the impacts of sanctions imposed on Russia. The economic and social damage of the uncontrolled increase in gas and food prices is mentioned, as well as how it could lead the West to an unprecedented crisis of scarcity.
It must be emphasized that the protest in the House was not a pro-Russian demonstration. Jayapal and her followers reinforced their support for Ukraine and endorsed Kiev as the “right” side in the conflict, completely ignoring the crimes of genocide and terrorism committed by the Ukrainian neo-Nazi government. However, the group presented a more pragmatic view on the way to reach a solution to the current crisis.
“Let me be clear, we are united as Democrats in our unequivocal commitment to supporting Ukraine in their fight for their democracy and freedom (…) Nothing in the letter advocates change in that support”, Jayapal said during an interview.
In the same sense, the group of lawmakers made a statement clarifying their position in a press conference: “As we also made explicitly clear in our letter and will continue to make clear, we support President Biden and his administration’s commitment to nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”.
In short, the purpose of the letter was to demand from Biden a mere revision of his strategy, not a substantial change in the policy of support to Ukraine. The Democrats, while continuing to support Kiev, are simply realizing the dangers of an extended war and calling for a foreign policy based on diplomacy, thus avoiding further harm to the Ukrainian people and the countries that adhered to the anti-Russian sanctions policy. The case revealed that a growing group of Democratic lawmakers is embracing political realism and seeking pragmatic solutions in order to reach the only goal that really matters for all the sides: peace.
However, the “pro-war resistance” remains strong among the Democrats. Many lawmakers rejected the letter and criticized the coalition led by Jayapal. These politicians maintain the discourse that the only way to end the conflict with “justice” is through the Ukrainian victory. To this end, they advocate that weapons be sent to Kiev so that Russian troops are defeated as quickly as possible.
Democrat Representative Ruben Gallego of Arizona, for example, commented on the letter on his social media stating: “The way to end a war? Win it quickly. How is it won quickly? By giving Ukraine the weapons to defeat Russia”.
In fact, this type of position is absolutely unjustified, as all the evidence points to a scenario of irreversibility of the military situation, with many experts stating that this is an impossible war for the Ukrainians to win. The American objective in continuing to arm Ukraine is to create a protracted proxy war to generate instability in the Russian strategic environment. In the US, the Republicans seemed the most open to this realistic analysis and were the first to demand changes in US strategy. Now, the Democrats also seem to be moving towards a critical opinion on the Biden Administration’s foreign policy.
It is hoped that soon both sides of American politics will understand the obvious reality: peace will only be attained through negotiations with Russia to conclude agreements that meet Moscow’s demands.
