Peace in Ukraine-When? Codepink Congress Capitol Calling Party

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When Trump was President, he sent Ukraine lethal weapons to stoke a civil war that preceded the Russian invasion of Ukraine. More recently, Trump changed his tune–after half a million soldiers were killed or wounded.

During his presidential campaign, he said, “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”

Could he? Well, maybe not in 24 hours but hopefully soon, provided the Biden White House doesn’t first plunge us into WWIII.

Look at recent events.

On his way out the door, President Biden, on November 17, crossed his own red line to approve of Ukraine’s use of US-supplied ballistic missiles to strike deep inside Russia. In response, Russia revised its nuclear doctrine to lower the threshold on the use of nuclear weapons to consider an attack by a non-nuclear armed state supported by a nuclear-armed power as a joint assault.

Two days later the Biden White House sent Ukraine anti-personnel mines or cluster bombs outlawed in much of the world. Then on November 21st, Russia fired an experimental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, where a million people reside.

The real possibility of a nuclear catastrophe lies before our eyes as Russia considers a nuclear-capable US/NATO military base in Poland a potential target.

The US government urgently needs to reverse course to promote a ceasefire and diplomatic resolution to Ukraine. Join us to discuss the possibilities and challenges facing the next presidential administration.

Featured Guests

Col. (ret.) Lawrence Wilkerson served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff (2002-05), also as Associate Director of the State Department's Policy Planning staff under the directorship of Ambassador Richard N. Haass, and as a member of that staff responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, political-military and legislative affairs (2001-02).

Before serving at the State Department, Wilkerson served 31 years in the U.S. Army. During that time, he was a member of the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College (1987 to 1989). Wilkerson retired in 1997 and began work as an advisor to General Powell. He has also taught national security affairs at the George Washington University and is currently working on a book about the first George W. Bush administration.

Nicolai Petro is a Senior Washington Fellow at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, where he previously held the Silvia-Chandley Professorship of Peace Studies and Nonviolence.

His scholarly awards include two Fulbright awards (one to Russia and one to Ukraine), a Council on Foreign Relations Fellowship, and research awards from the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies in Washington, D.C., and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In 2021 he was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna, Italy.