WE NEED PEACE IN UKRAINE WE’RE ALL AFFECTED!!

We are afflicted by the significantly increasing danger of Nuclear War and annihilation. Nuclear winter is now more likely than ever (and we’ve had devastatingly close calls before); The Doomsday Clock is now 90 seconds to Midnight: a worldwide grain shortage and associated shortages, the environmental catastrophes caused by the military activity; and the opportunity cost of vast money and efforts being poured into the terrible devastation and destruction.

Please join us to vigil for Peace In Ukraine on Saturday, Sept 7, 12 Noon to 1 pm: Bidwell & Elmwood, Buffalo 14222. The gathering is organized by the WNY Peace Center and hosted by Women In Black WNY. Please bring signs! As members of the Peace In Ukraine Coalition, we call for: 1.  an immediate ceasefire. 2.  peace negotiations; and 3. an end to providing more weapons.

Yes, Russia was so wrong in invading and has acted abominably. However, so has the USA!!

The expansion of NATO despite US assurances to the contrary has posed military and nuclear threats to Russia. How would the US respond to Russian alliances with our neighbors Mexico or Canada? At least 15 countries were added to NATO, bringing the threat of military confrontation close to Russia. This added to Putin’s already apparent proclivity to aggression – with the war in Ukraine, at least in part, the result. 

Now we have the two countries holding the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weapons locked in a proxy war and showing no inclination to diplomacy or negotiations. 

The environmental impact of the war is terrible. Fighting has caused huge forest fires, devastation at Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, and a massive number of bombed-out buildings. Furthermore, greenhouse gas emissions – said by Ukraine to be 33 million tons – from the war are astronomical.

The opportunity cost of the $75 Billion (yes $75 Billion) being spent by the US on the war in Ukraine includes all the efforts that could have otherwise been undertaken. That figure includes US spending on military, financial, and humanitarian efforts in the war.

How much could $75 Billion otherwise do to improve life on this planet? In the book “How to Spend $75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place,” economists showed even $12 Billion in nutrition support could reduce child under-nutrition by 36%l each $1 spent producing $59 in benefits (Limburg, Huff Post, 2013).

Or $75 Billion could double the budget of 125 cities the size of Buffalo – or provide substantial funds for housing, healthcare, education – you name it. That’s #moneyforpeoplesneeds!!! 

The US has refused to negotiate this ferocious proxy war, as has the Ukraine. Please come to the vigil on 10/7 (see above).  ask our reps and senators why they haven’t supported legislation requiring Biden’s administration to report on war strategy and use diplomacy; and urge our elected to push for a ceasefire, negotiations, and no more weapons.