{"id":204869,"date":"2022-02-14T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=204869"},"modified":"2022-02-09T04:48:48","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T04:48:48","slug":"memo-to-us-congress-diplomacy-for-ukraine-is-spelled-m-i-n-s-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/02\/memo-to-us-congress-diplomacy-for-ukraine-is-spelled-m-i-n-s-k\/","title":{"rendered":"Memo to US Congress: Diplomacy for Ukraine Is Spelled M-i-n-s-k"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Peace protest at the White House – Photo credit: iacenter.org<\/p><\/div>\n

8 Feb 2022 – <\/em>While the Biden administration is sending more troops and weapons to inflame the Ukraine conflict and Congress is pouring more fuel on the fire, the American people are on a totally different track.<\/p>\n

A December 2021 poll<\/a> found that a plurality of Americans in both political parties prefer to resolve differences over Ukraine through diplomacy. Another December poll<\/a> found that a plurality of Americans (48 percent) would oppose going to war with Russia should it invade Ukraine, with only 27 percent favoring U.S. military involvement.<\/p>\n

The conservative Koch Institute, which commissioned that poll, concluded that<\/p>\n

\u201cthe United States has no vital interests at stake in Ukraine and continuing to take actions that increase the risk of a confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia is therefore not necessary for our security. After more than two decades of endless war abroad, it is not surprising there is wariness among the American people for yet another war that wouldn\u2019t make us safer or more prosperous.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The most anti-war popular voice on the right<\/a> is Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has been lashing out against the hawks in both parties, as have other anti-interventionist libertarians.<\/p>\n

On the left, the anti-war sentiment was in full force on February 5, when over 75 protests<\/a> took place from Maine to Alaska. The protesters, including union activists, environmentalists, healthcare workers and students, denounced pouring even more money into the military when we have so many burning needs at home.<\/p>\n

You would think Congress would be echoing the public sentiment that a war with Russia is not in our national interest. Instead, taking our nation to war and supporting the gargantuan military budget seem to be the only issues that both parties agree on.<\/p>\n

Most Republicans in Congress are criticizing Biden<\/a> for not being tough enough (or for focusing on Russia instead of China) and most Democrats are afraid<\/a> to oppose a Democratic president or be smeared as Putin apologists (remember, Democrats spent four years under Trump demonizing Russia).<\/p>\n

Both parties have bills calling for draconian sanctions on Russia and expedited \u201clethal aid\u201d to Ukraine. The Republicans are advocating for $450 million<\/a> in new military shipments; the Democrats are one-upping them with a price tag of $500 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Progressive Caucus leaders<\/a> Pramila Jayapal and Barbara Lee have called for negotiations and de-escalation. But others in the Caucus\u2013such as Reps. David Cicilline and Andy Levin\u2013are co-sponsors<\/a> of the dreadful anti-Russia bill, and Speaker Pelosi is fast-tracking<\/a> the bill to expedite weapons shipments to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

But sending more weapons and imposing heavy-handed sanctions can only ratchet up the resurgent U.S. Cold War on Russia, with all its attendant costs to American society: lavish military spending displacing<\/a> desperately needed social spending; geopolitical divisions undermining international cooperation<\/a> for a better future; and, not least, increased<\/a> risks of a nuclear war that could end life on Earth as we know it.<\/p>\n

For those looking for real solutions, we have good news.<\/p>\n

Negotiations regarding Ukraine are not limited to President Biden and Secretary Blinken\u2019s failed efforts to browbeat the Russians. There is another already existing diplomatic track for peace in Ukraine, a well-established process called the Minsk Protocol<\/a>, led by France and Germany and supervised by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).<\/p>\n

The civil war in Eastern Ukraine broke out in early 2014, after the people of Donetsk and Luhansk provinces unilaterally declared independence from Ukraine as the Donetsk (DPR<\/a>) and Luhansk (LPR<\/a>) People\u2019s Republics, in response to the U.S.-backed coup<\/a> in Kiev in February 2014. The post-coup government formed new \u201cNational Guard<\/a>\u201d units to assault the breakaway region, but the separatists fought back and held their territory, with some covert support from Russia. Diplomatic efforts were launched to resolve the conflict.<\/p>\n

The original Minsk Protocol<\/a> was signed by the \u201cTrilateral Contact Group on Ukraine\u201d (Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE) in September 2014. It reduced the violence, but failed to end the war. France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine also held a meeting in Normandy in June 2014 and this group became known as the \u201cNormandy Contact Group\u201d or the \u201cNormandy Format<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

All these parties continued to meet and negotiate, together with the leaders of the self-declared Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (LPR) People\u2019s Republics in Eastern Ukraine, and they eventually signed the Minsk II<\/a> agreement on February 12, 2015. The terms were similar to the original Minsk Protocol, but more detailed and with more buy-in from the DPR and LPR.<\/p>\n

The Minsk II agreement was unanimously approved by the U.N. Security Council in Resolution 2202<\/a> on February 17, 2015. The United States voted in favor of the resolution, and 57 Americans are currently serving as ceasefire monitors with the OSCE in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The key elements of the 2015 Minsk II Agreement were:<\/p>\n