Feb. 25, 2022 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet
Wage Peace
War is NOT the Answer!
The very dangerous, escalating situation in Ukraine between Russia, the US, and NATO has the potential to spark a global nuclear war, by accident or design. Together, Russia and the US possess 90% of the world’s nuclear arsenal capable of destroying the world many times over.
The situation in Ukraine is complicated. To use a Hawaiian Ho’oponopono (To Make Right) analogy, there can be many knots in a tangled fish net that need to be untied one at a time. To name just a few of the Ukraine knots: a 2014 coup in Ukraine with direct US involvement to topple a democratically elected pro Russian Ukraine government; NATO expanding by 14 countries and moving eastward toward Russia despite assurance by the US that this would never happen; Ukraine’s failure to honor commitments under the 2015 Minsk accords that provided for regional autonomy as well as a ceasefire; Putin now recognizing two self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine and moving in Russian “Peacekeeper” military troops.
Now what? Instead of escalating the situation further with crushing Western economic sanctions on Russia, and the two new self-proclaimed republics, there need to be good faith efforts to defuse the growing tensions. Diplomacy, Diplomacy, Diplomacy! Negotiations, Negotiations, Negotiations! Find solutions acceptable to all sides. Begin to untie the knots, not make more knots. An example to look back on is the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 between the Soviet Union and the US when Soviet nuclear missiles were placed in Cuba, only 90 miles from the US. It was a very dangerous time coming very close to nuclear war. The agreement finally reached, after rapidly escalating tensions, involved the Soviet withdrawal of missiles from Cuba, US withdrawal of nuclear missiles from Turkey, and the US pledged not to invade Cuba. Thankfully, the world stepped back from the brink of nuclear war, and possibly the end to civilization as we know it. Today, we need similar action before the crisis further escalates. Then we need global nuclear disarmament and justice, peace, and a living planet.
Love your Enemies!
Don’t Kill or Crush Them with Sanctions!
1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject violence & war as solutions. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, anti-Black, anti-Asian, etc. 5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai’i 96760
Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. For more information www.malu-aina.org
Feb. 25, 2022, Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1065– Fridays 3:30-5 PM downtown Post Office
-- Jim Albertini Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org
