Conflict rages around the globe. According to estimates from the United Nations, millions of civilians have died in the 21st century due to armed conflicts and the accompanying states of famine, shortage and displacement that war brings.
Surprisingly, despite our calls for peace, the United States leads the world in weapons exports, and “made in America” weaponry is fueling conflicts in Gaza, Yemen and Ukraine/Russia, just to name a few. In the face of rapidly rising conflicts, we buckle down on policies that escalate tensions and create dangerous polarization on the international stage.
The world is now closer to nuclear war than any other time since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when the U.S. almost went to war with the USSR to prevent them from placing nuclear warheads in Cuba.
The fall of the Iron Curtain was a great moment for liberty and peace. Instead of using this momentous occasion to develop friendship and economic prosperity with Russia and all of Eastern Europe, we expanded NATO eastward, placed weapons and nuclear arms into European countries despite the promise to not expand NATO even “one inch to the East” and the later 1997 NATO Russia Founding Act which promised no “additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces” in new NATO countries.
The U.S. State Department has also dumped millions of dollars to influence Ukrainian and Georgian elections and train political organizers to foment social unrest and political riots over the past two decades.
We now see that Ukrainians, not Washington politicians, are harvesting the bitter fruits of America’s misguided foreign policy. We should prioritize peace and stability with the world and stop the pattern of war profiteering and meddling.
Yet Sen. Mike Lee and Evan McMullin, the independent candidate running against him, both support the Biden administration’s policy of further provoking global conflict. Both Lee and McMullin supported providing the Ukraine government with billions of dollars to fund U.S. military trainers, U.S. targeting assistance, and ever more advanced U.S. weaponry to fight an undeclared proxy war against Russia at the expense of Ukrainian and Russian lives, the majority of which are innocent civilians.
Both Lee and McMullin support the annual multi-billion-dollar subsidies of U.S. weaponry to other nations and civilian killing, conflict stoking sanctions. Genuine efforts at making peace would have saved tens of thousands of lives and stopped the displacement of millions of refugees in the Ukrainian-Russian war alone.
I agree with distinguished Utahn and national security strategist David T. Pyne who writes:
“...virtually no elected U.S. leaders or anyone in the liberal mainstream media seems to care whether Biden’s continued policy of national suicide in fighting his undeclared proxy war against Russia in Ukraine ends up provoking a nuclear war with Russia.”
Nuclear escalation will lead to the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians. How can we course correct? Utah voters have a chance to show they reject this Biden/Lee/McMullin path towards nuclear war and global conflict by casting their vote for James Hansen.
To reduce tensions and step back from nuclear war, I propose the following steps:
Broker a ceasefire and Russian withdrawal in return for a U.S. withdrawal of troops from post 1997 NATO countries and the removal of U.S. nuclear warheads from Turkey.
End economic sanctions on the Russian state, which have only strengthened Russian economic and military ties with China and India, further polarizing the international stage.
Begin global talks with nuclear powers and move towards a state of global denuclearization.
End the U.S. supply of arms to active conflict zones, which further prolongs bloodshed and increases civilian casualties.
The best way to establish peace and stability in the world is through free trade and honest diplomacy. Covert CIA operations, such as promoting social unrest, torture, extrajudicial imprisonment and killings, arming splinter groups and direct involvement in coups, must cease. It is reckless and has been the catalyst of conflicts that have claimed millions of innocent lives throughout the CIA’s existence.
Vote for Peace this November, not nuclear warfare and the devastation it would unleash upon the world’s peoples. Vote for James Hansen.
James Hansen
James Hansen is the Utah Libertarian Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate. His campaign website is Jimmy4Utah.com.
