I know people are entitled to their opinions, but they are not entitled to rewrite history. Nations, especially Russia, have centuries of commitments to maintaining border integrity. Ukraine, regardless of its relative newness in the grand scheme of nations, exists because Russian governments of the past acknowledged its independence, and even nurtured its evolution after it broke away from the former Soviet Union. The ideas Robert Wright expressed in his Dec. 4 op-ed, “Biden can help Zelensky, and Ukraine, by pushing for peace,” clearly ignored the history of the civilized world regarding aggression and specifically Russian aggression. Advocating that Ukraine should turn to negotiation now is actually advocating to allow Russia to legitimize its illegal, immoral, brutal and barbaric aggression against a neighbor.
Mr. Wright’s op-ed should be ignored by everyone who believes in the principles of laws that establish and maintain civilization and the integrity of nations.
Simply because Russia is losing what it illegally claims to have acquired is no reason to legitimize its invasion by negotiating terms for it to keep what it is stealing. I suggest that Russia, to have the international sanctions lifted, withdraw its forces to behind internationally recognized borders and negotiate reparations for war crimes and damages.
Clarence R. Griffin, Alexandria
1/6
Reading Robert Wright's peace proposal for Ukraine, one is struck by his lack of historical perspective, particularly in regard to what is at stake in this war’s outcome. This is not just some regional struggle that can be ended by a territorial adjustment. The stated goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his ideologues is, at a minimum, the incorporation of Ukraine into a new Russian empire (Russki mir).
Of course Russia is willing to hold peace talks, provided they lead to a settlement cementing its conquests. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the only obstacle to a peaceful settlement is the stubbornness of the West in continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons, basically saying stop the weapons supply and Ukraine will negotiate. The fear of a nuclear confrontation has largely prevented the West from delivering the required quantity and quality of weaponry to Ukraine that could lead to victory. Would Mr. Putin, in desperation, resort to nuclear weapons when his gains in Ukraine were jeopardized? Nobody can answer this question with certainty.
Maintaining the current policy of timidity will inevitably lead to a Russian victory. The indelible precedent of a large-scale, brazen aggression committed with impunity by a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council would invite new eager practitioners — China — to the feast. The world would be faced with a replication of “Munich 1938” on a grand scale. The West should finally realize, just as its forebears fortunately did in the case of Adolf Hitler, that maintaining a stable international world order is impossible when a state is allowed, as a matter of policy, to scoff at international law and commit aggression at will.
Wasyl Wasylkiwskyj, Bethesda
After reading Robert Wright’s column stating that the United States should pressure Ukraine into a settlement with Russia, I had to ask myself how Mr. Wright would like to be told that, as of New Year’s Day, he is Russian.
Whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to fight for his country is up to the Ukrainian people, not any other nation. The Ukrainian people have shown their willingness and determination to be a free country. President Biden understands this, but if Mr. Zelensky wants to let Russian President Vladimir Putin have the pro-Russian area in exchange for Crimea, that could be considered, but it is not up to us to decide. It’s up to the Ukrainian people.
Larry Polhamus, Silver Spring
Robert Wright’s Dec. 4 op-ed was bold, balanced and brilliant, and offered a much-needed path forward. Mr. Wright leveraged his call for peace on a relatively unreported possibility that President Biden pushing for peace, rather than being considered heresy, might actually help Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
As Mr. Wright pointed out, Mr. Zelensky might be hesitant to negotiate because of internal political pressure, and “Biden would be doing him a favor by … pushing him toward the negotiating table [and] shielding him from the political fallout.”
Given the billions of dollars this war is costing the United States in a very unproductive activity, it would behoove the Biden administration to cautiously call for negotiations.
Ritha Khemani, Washington
