The War
Isajah 2.4
"...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spares into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither they shall learn war anymore."
The War: Ukraine, Russia, US/Nato
In May 2022 I sent the below letter to Mr.Putin suggesting a compromise for the warring triangle: Ukraine, Russia, US/Nato that may lead us to peace, at least to peace in Europe. The letters presenting the same idea were also sent to Mr.Zelensky, The President of Ukraine, Gen. Stoltenberg Chief of Nato, and to Mr. Erdogan, the President of Turkey.
Mr. President Vladimir Putin 5/8/22
Kremlin, Moscow, RF
Dear Mr. President Putin;
My name is Dr. Bronislaw Czarnocha, professor of mathematics, City University of New York. I am writing to you extremely concerned by the by downward spiral of the situation in the World and in Ukraine very close to Poland, the country I come from.
I would like to suggest a point of view which might stop that downward spiraling world:
Russian army - behind Ural Mountains and NATO out of Europe
Justification
I fully agree with you, Mr. Putin in your pre-February 24 assessment of the West's attitude towards Russia. Indeed, Russia has had reasons to feel threatened by NATO positions in its eastern flank.
At the same time, I am sure you will not be surprised to know that us, East Europeans from the Baltics, Poland, Czech, Hungary down to Bulgaria feel equally threatened by the presence of the Russian army on their borders, on the Russian western flank. Poland and Hungary got itself into NATO so early out of fear of Russia. Given our common history, would you blame them, Mr. President?
Consequently, we need to create the situation in Europe where the threat towards Russia and the threat toward East European countries are both eliminated.
The suggested compromise: simultaneously, Russian army – behind Ural and NATO out of Europe with corresponding reduction of national armies in Europe is the precise solution to the problem. If the bulk of Russian army is behind Ural Mountains, we East Europeans are not threatened and there is no need for NATO. Hence it disappears from Europe eliminating threat to Russia.
Dr. Bronislaw Czarnocha
Mathematics, CUNY, NYC
This letter presents a new point of view on the war, which at the same time provides a conceptual frame within which the Left can find its bearings. The point of view suggests that to get to peace we have to see the situation not as one war, but as two wars: US/Nato versus Russia war and Russia versus Ukraine war, each of them along a different motivational pathway. Whereas the first one is about the economic and political world dominance, the second one is about the national sovereignty; in other words, the Ukraine war is bisociative that is it originates in two separate motivations within which Ukraine needs US as much for its national security as US needs Ukraine for its imperial socio/economical purposes. Thus to see that war solely as a one dimensional "proxy" war artificially reduces the degree of complexity of events and with that our possibility to understand them fully in order to take the correct action. Anecdotically, last week a high ranking official in Polish Ministry of National Defense indicated that their strategic assessment of the situation is changing from seeing the war as Ukraine/Russian war to the seeing it as the "proxy" war US/Russia. That is a very important realization on the part of Polish elite. It means that the war in East Europe is becoming global; for the third time in recent history. And that really is very dangerous. The fact also tells us that the issue here is not only Ukraine but all of East Europe which had been squeezed between East and West in its modern history. It is the East Europe, which through the two world wars and the possible third one is informing the world that either it will have the voice and decision about itself, or it's ready to lead the world to the explosion. The third time.
To undertake steps toward peace that lasts, there is a need for the vision that offers the hope of being doable, reachable, at least by our imagination at present, so that one could deeply commit oneself to its pursuit. Such a vision exists in our culture; it's called Isajah 2.4:
"...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spares into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither they shall learn war anymore."
The first step of the compromise leading to its final solution stated above in the letter to Mr.Putin, that is to peace in Europe, concerns Lugansk and Donetsk: they should be released from RF's membership and continue as two independent republic simultaneously with the creation of two economic bridges to both of the regions, one from Ukraine, the second one from Russia to rebuilt and to re-establish "normal" life in both provinces. So that socio/economic well being of the two provinces becomes the common responsibility of Ukraine and Russia – that is the starting point of the new structure of peace in Europe.Not only STOP war actions, but simultaneously START of the construction of new relationships based on common responsibilities and mutual help in achieving them.