{"id":221934,"date":"2022-10-17T12:01:19","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T11:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=221934"},"modified":"2022-10-13T05:04:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T04:04:09","slug":"us-rejection-of-moscows-offer-for-peace-talks-is-utterly-inexcusable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/10\/us-rejection-of-moscows-offer-for-peace-talks-is-utterly-inexcusable\/","title":{"rendered":"US Rejection of Moscow\u2019s Offer for Peace Talks Is Utterly Inexcusable"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>12 Oct 2022 &#8211; <\/em>Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.antiwar.com\/2022\/10\/11\/lavrov-says-russia-open-to-talks-with-the-west-us-dismisses-his-comments\/\" >said yesterday<\/a> that Moscow was open to talks with the US or with Turkey on ending the war in Ukraine, claiming that US officials are lying when they say Russia has been refusing peace talks.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/7kZJj\" >reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Lavrov said officials, including White House national security spokesman John Kirby, had said the United States was open to talks but that Russia had refused.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThis is a lie,\u201d Lavrov said. \u201cWe have not received any serious offers to make contact.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Lavrov\u2019s claim was given more weight when\u00a0US State Department spokesman Ned Price <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/russian-comments-talks-with-west-not-constructive-legitimate-offer-us-state-dept-2022-10-11\/\" >dismissed the offer<\/a> for peace talks shortly after it was extended, citing Russia\u2019s recent missile strikes on Kyiv.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe see this as posturing,\u201d Price said at a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/briefings\/department-press-briefing-october-11-2022\/\" >Tuesday press briefing<\/a>. \u201cWe do not see this as a constructive, legitimate offer to engage in the dialogue and diplomacy that is absolutely necessary to see an end to this brutal war of aggression against the people and the state, the Government of Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Lavrov Says Russia Open to Talks With the West, US Dismisses His Comments<br \/>Putin may discuss talks with the West in a meeting with Erdogan this week<br \/>by Dave DeCamp<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DecampDave?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >@DecampDave<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Russia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#Russia<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Lavrov?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#Lavrov<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Ukraine?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#Ukraine<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/diplomacy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#diplomacy<\/a>  <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/G20?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#G20<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bRbdPj7muH\" >https:\/\/t.co\/bRbdPj7muH<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PESo4C2ioN\" >pic.twitter.com\/PESo4C2ioN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Antiwarcom\/status\/1579944535945523201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >October 11, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This is inexcusable. At a time when our world is at its most perilous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justsecurity.org\/81040\/why-the-war-in-ukraine-poses-a-greater-nuclear-risk-than-the-cuban-missile-crisis\/\" >according<\/a> to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/national-security-daily\/2022\/10\/07\/more-dangerous-than-the-cuban-missile-crisis-00060985\" >many<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.antiwar.com\/2022\/07\/28\/british-official-says-nuclear-war-threat-higher-than-during-the-cold-war\/\" >experts<\/a> as well as <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.substack.com\/p\/biden-were-trying-to-figure-out-how\" >the president of the United States<\/a>, the US government has no business making the decision not to sit down with Russian officials and work toward de-escalation and peace. They have no business making that call on behalf of every terrestrial organism on this planet whose life is being risked in these games of nuclear brinkmanship. The fact that this war has escalated with missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/2022\/10\/10\/russia-unleashes-fury-zelensky-implores-west-for-more-help\/\" >makes peace talks <em>more<\/em> necessary<\/a>, not less.<\/p>\n<p>This rejection is made all the more outrageous by new information from The Washington Post that the US government does not believe Ukraine can win this war and refuses to encourage it to negotiate with Moscow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrivately, U.S. officials say neither Russia nor Ukraine is capable of winning the war outright, but they have ruled out the idea of pushing or even nudging Ukraine to the negotiating table,\u201d WaPo <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/Bippa#selection-887.0-887.311\" >reports<\/a>. \u201cThey say they do not know what the end of the war looks like, or how it might end or when, insisting that is up to Kyiv.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These two points taken together lend even more credibility an argument I\u2019ve been <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caitoz\/status\/1497341423032537089\" >making from the very beginning<\/a> of this war: that the US <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.substack.com\/p\/this-proxy-war-has-no-exit-strategy\" >does not want peace in Ukraine<\/a>, but rather seeks to create a costly military quagmire for Moscow just as US officials have confessed to trying to do <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2003\/4\/23\/afghanistan-the-soviet-unions-vietnam\" >in Afghanistan<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aaronjmate\/status\/1327710965274710017\" >in Syria<\/a>. Which would explain why US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US goal in Ukraine is actually <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.antiwar.com\/2022\/04\/25\/after-kyiv-visit-lloyd-austin-says-us-goal-is-for-russia-to-be-weakened\/\" >to \u201cweaken\u201d Russia<\/a>, and also why the empire appears to have <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mate.substack.com\/p\/russia-says-us-wrecked-ukraine-talks\" >actively torpedoed a peace deal<\/a> between Ukraine and Russia in the early days of the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>This proxy war has no exit strategy. And that is entirely by design.<\/p>\n<p>httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hPsVg5DRJBk&amp;feature=emb_imp_woyt<\/p>\n<p>Many have been calling for the US to abandon its policy of actively sustaining this war while avoiding peace talks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPresident Biden\u2019s language, we\u2019re about at the top of the language scale, if you will,\u201d\u00a0former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mike Mullen <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/week-transcript-10-22-white-house-nsc-coordinator\/story?id=91206470\" >told ABC\u2019s This Week<\/a>\u00a0on Sunday regarding the president\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2022\/oct\/07\/biden-warns-world-would-face-armageddon-if-putin-uses-a-tactical-nuclear-weapon-in-ukraine\" >recent remark<\/a> that this conflict could lead to \u201cArmageddon\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we need to back off that a little bit and do everything we possibly can to try to get to the table to resolve this thing,\u201d Mullen said, adding, \u201cAs is typical in any war, it has got to end and usually there are negotiations associated with that. The sooner the better as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne thing the United States can do is\u2026 drop the position, the official position, that the war must go on to weaken Russia severely, meaning no negotiations,\u201d Noam Chomsky <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2022\/10\/10\/noam_chomsky_vijay_prashad_china_ukraine\" >argued<\/a> in a recent appearance on Democracy Now. \u201cWould that open the way to negotiations, diplomacy? Can\u2019t be sure. There\u2019s only one way to find out. That\u2019s to try. If you don\u2019t try, of course it won\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is time for the United States to supplement its military support for Ukraine with a diplomatic track to manage this crisis before it spirals out of control,\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/2022\/10\/10\/russia-unleashes-fury-zelensky-implores-west-for-more-help\/\" >said<\/a> the Quincy Institute\u2019s George Beebe following the Monday missile strikes on Kyiv, calling it\u00a0\u201ca major escalation in the war\u201d that was bound to \u201cbring the world closer to a direct military collision between Russia and the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Americans have to come to an agreement with the Russians. And then the war will be over,\u201d Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/viktor-orban-donald-trump-end-war-ukraine-russia\/\" >said<\/a> at an event on Tuesday, adding that \u201canyone who thinks that this war will be concluded through Russian-Ukrainian negotiations is not living in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">US &amp; allies &quot;should be finding ways to open up communications with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to end the fighting.&quot; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RStatecraft?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >@RStatecraft<\/a> seems the only place it&#39;s now uncontroversial to make this basic commonsense point.<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QrGNoIx5Qg\" >https:\/\/t.co\/QrGNoIx5Qg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Branko Marcetic (@BMarchetich) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BMarchetich\/status\/1576983835492855808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >October 3, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s absolutely insane that the world\u2019s two nuclear superpowers are accelerating toward direct military confrontation and they aren\u2019t even talking to each other, and it\u2019s even crazier that anyone who says they should be gets called a Kremlin agent and a Chamberlain-like appeaser. Responsible Statecraft\u2019s Harry Kazianis discusses this freakish dynamic in a recent article titled \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/2022\/10\/03\/talking-is-not-appeasement-its-avoiding-a-nuclear-armageddon\/\" >Talking is not appeasement \u2014 it\u2019s avoiding a nuclear armageddon<\/a>\u201c:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>I have fought more than thirty combat simulations in wargames under my own direction for a private defense contract over the last several months, looking at various aspects of the Russia-Ukraine war, and one thing is clear: the chances of a nuclear war increase significantly every day that passes.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In every scenario I tested, the Biden Administration slowly gives Ukraine ever more advanced weapons like\u00a0ATACMS,\u00a0F-16s, and other platforms that Russia has consistently warned pose a direct military threat. While each scenario has postulated a different point at which Moscow decides to use a tactical nuclear weapon in order to counter conventional platforms it can\u2019t easily defeat, the chances that Russia uses nukes grow as new and more powerful military capabilities are introduced into the battlefield by the West.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In fact, in 28 of the thirty scenarios I have run since the war began, some sort of nuclear exchange occurs.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The good news is there is a way out of this crisis \u2014 however imperfect it may be. In the two scenarios where nuclear war was averted, direct negotiations led to a ceasefire.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I repeat again that it is absolutely pants-on-head gibbering insanity that these direct negotiations are not already presently underway. Let us petition any and all higher powers we have faith in that this changes very soon. Let us also petition the leaders of our individual nations around the world to exert whatever kind of pressure they can muster upon Washington for these talks to commence. This brinkmanship threatens us all, and the managers of the US empire have no business playing these games with our lives.<\/p>\n<p>_________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-180156\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a> <em>Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\" >at <\/a><\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\" >Medium<\/a>. <em>Contact: <a href=\"admin@caitlinjohnstone.com\">admin@caitlinjohnstone.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2022\/10\/12\/us-rejection-of-moscows-offer-for-peace-talks-is-utterly-inexcusable\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 caitlinjohnstone.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>12 Oct 2022 &#8211; Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that Moscow was open to talks with the US or with Turkey on ending the war in Ukraine, claiming that US officials are lying when they say Russia has been refusing peace talks. Lavrov\u2019s claim was given more weight when US State Department spokesman Ned Price dismissed the offer for peace talks shortly after it was extended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":180156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[1035,1268,1126,1050,2462,91,1301,112,818,278,961,2200,95,70,1594,481,172],"class_list":["post-221934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america","tag-eastern-europe","tag-european-union","tag-hegemony","tag-imperialism","tag-military-industrial-media-complex","tag-nato","tag-nuclear-war","tag-pentagon","tag-proxy-war","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-us-empire","tag-us-military","tag-usa","tag-war-economy","tag-warfare","tag-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}