IRISH ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT (IAWM) PRESS RELEASE ON UKRAINE – 24 January 2022
HANDS OFF UKRAINE BY ALL FOREIGN POWERS
STOP THE DANGEROUS WARMONGERING IMMEDIATELY
The Irish Anti War Movement condemns the dangerous saber-rattling by the US, Britain and Russia over Ukraine.
The Ukrainian people have a right to self determination and a right to choose which countries they ally with. Such choices should however respect the human rights of all Ukrainian citizens, including those who identify more with Russia than with Europe or the USA. Serious diplomacy is needed to achieve this.
The fact is that the current Ukraine crisis has been long festering due to relentless NATO expansionism – mainly driven by the US – which the Russians claim threaten its security. Since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, NATO has expanded into more and more countries in Eastern Europe and is now on Russia’s border. It has also played a more aggressive role internationally in the Balkans, the Middle East and South Asia – remember the carnage created by NATO in Libya.
Several NATO countries [with the notable exception of Germany] are supplying weapons, soldiers and military advisors to the Ukrainian Government while their politicians of all hues are making provocative speeches. The US has sent much ‘lethal aid’ to Ukraine. Washington has also endorsed a move by the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to send US-made weapons to Ukraine.
The NATO leaders, particularly the US and Britain, are stoking the tension in Ukraine, using Ukrainian citizens as pawns in a game of geo-political brinkmanship between themselves and Russia. All their actions are playing into the ultranationalistic policy of Putin and his cronies in Russia, thus making him more powerful. The western media adds to the hysteria, blaming the whole crisis on Russia as the only bad actor with the obvious subtext being that the US and NATO will fly in to solve everything for the Ukrainians. All this while hypocritical western Governments are tacitly supporting and ignoring horrific atrocities in Yemen and Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem.
The IAWM rejects both the saber-rattling of the belligerent parties and the lazy response of the western media. We call for an end to this dangerous situation. Stop the warmongering now!
Why cannot western political leaders advance serious diplomatic proposals to defuse the tension? Why not call for an immediate withdrawal of all military hardware and advisors from the region and assist in allowing the Ukraine to be a neutral state with help from all sides? This would show serious concern for both Ukraine’s territorial integrity and Russia’s security. The Minsk Agreements signed in 2014 and 2015, brokered by France and Germany and overseen by the OSCE called for a ceasefire, a withdrawla of heavy weapons, Ukraine’s control over its border with Russia and a special political status for certain areas of the region [Ukraine: The Minsk agreements five years on (europa.eu) ].
Further adding to the tension, the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group and NATO allies are launching a major military ‘exercise’ in the Mediterranean Sea on Monday 24 January. In a tit for tat move, Russia is planning an exercise to ‘test missiles’ off the coast of Ireland in February.
These preparations for war on both sides will undoubtedly make conflict more likely. All of these irrresponsible provocative exercises in warmongering should stop now.
It is beyond comprehension that a small country is being used by several nuclear power countries in this dangerous game of geo-political brinkmanship and that there is even talk of the possibility of yet another military conflagration that would kill and maim multitudes of people and defer the urgent mitigation measures so badly needed in relation to the climate change crisis.
The IAWM calls on the political leaders of the US, Britain, other NATO countries and Russia to step back from the brink. Start earnest meaningful peace negotiations with the aim of demilitarising the region and helping the Ukrainian people to live peacefully and to co-exist in a manner that respects their multilayered cultures. The alternative is unimaginable.
Contact:
Jim Roche, PRO Steering Committee, IAWM, Tel. 087 6472737
Glenda Cimino, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 086 124 9456
Sara O Rourke, Member, Steering Committee, IAWM, Tel. 087 6024821
Michael Youlton, Chair Steering Committee, IAWM, Tel. 086 8159487
END
IRISH ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT (IAWM) PRESS RELEASE ON UKRAINE – 24 January 2022
HANDS OFF UKRAINE BY ALL FOREIGN POWERS
STOP THE DANGEROUS WARMONGERING IMMEDIATELY
The Irish Anti War Movement condemns the dangerous saber-rattling by the US, Britain and Russia over Ukraine.
The Ukrainian people have a right to self determination and a right to choose which countries they ally with. Such choices should however respect the human rights of all Ukrainian citizens, including those who identify more with Russia than with Europe or the USA. Serious diplomacy is needed to achieve this.
The fact is that the current Ukraine crisis has been long festering due to relentless NATO expansionism – mainly driven by the US – which the Russians claim threaten its security. Since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, NATO has expanded into more and more countries in Eastern Europe and is now on Russia’s border. It has also played a more aggressive role internationally in the Balkans, the Middle East and South Asia – remember the carnage created by NATO in Libya.
Several NATO countries [with the notable exception of Germany] are supplying weapons, soldiers and military advisors to the Ukrainian Government while their politicians of all hues are making provocative speeches. The US has sent much ‘lethal aid’ to Ukraine. Washington has also endorsed a move by the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to send US-made weapons to Ukraine.
The NATO leaders, particularly the US and Britain, are stoking the tension in Ukraine, using Ukrainian citizens as pawns in a game of geo-political brinkmanship between themselves and Russia. All their actions are playing into the ultranationalistic policy of Putin and his cronies in Russia, thus making him more powerful. The western media adds to the hysteria, blaming the whole crisis on Russia as the only bad actor with the obvious subtext being that the US and NATO will fly in to solve everything for the Ukrainians. All this while hypocritical western Governments are tacitly supporting and ignoring horrific atrocities in Yemen and Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem.
The IAWM rejects both the saber-rattling of the belligerent parties and the lazy response of the western media. We call for an end to this dangerous situation. Stop the warmongering now!
Why cannot western political leaders advance serious diplomatic proposals to defuse the tension? Why not call for an immediate withdrawal of all military hardware and advisors from the region and assist in allowing the Ukraine to be a neutral state with help from all sides? This would show serious concern for both Ukraine’s territorial integrity and Russia’s security. The Minsk Agreements signed in 2014 and 2015, brokered by France and Germany and overseen by the OSCE called for a ceasefire, a withdrawla of heavy weapons, Ukraine’s control over its border with Russia and a special political status for certain areas of the region [Ukraine: The Minsk agreements five years on (europa.eu) ].
Further adding to the tension, the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group and NATO allies are launching a major military ‘exercise’ in the Mediterranean Sea on Monday 24 January. In a tit for tat move, Russia is planning an exercise to ‘test missiles’ off the coast of Ireland in February.
These preparations for war on both sides will undoubtedly make conflict more likely. All of these irrresponsible provocative exercises in warmongering should stop now.
It is beyond comprehension that a small country is being used by several nuclear power countries in this dangerous game of geo-political brinkmanship and that there is even talk of the possibility of yet another military conflagration that would kill and maim multitudes of people and defer the urgent mitigation measures so badly needed in relation to the climate change crisis.
The IAWM calls on the political leaders of the US, Britain, other NATO countries and Russia to step back from the brink. Start earnest meaningful peace negotiations with the aim of demilitarising the region and helping the Ukrainian people to live peacefully and to co-exist in a manner that respects their multilayered cultures. The alternative is unimaginable.
Contact:
Jim Roche, PRO Steering Committee, IAWM, Tel. 087 6472737
Glenda Cimino, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 086 124 9456
Sara O Rourke, Member, Steering Committee, IAWM, Tel. 087 6024821
Michael Youlton, Chair Steering Committee, IAWM, Tel. 086 8159487
END
