Time to negotiate, Biden

To the editor:

President Biden has shown he is incapable of challenging the ideology of American hegemony.

The United States must always exercise control over the world whether it’s by military, economic and/or political means. Washington, instead, must find common ground with China and even Russia to address the two existential threats facing the world: climate change and nuclear weapons. 

The horrific war in Ukraine is instructive. Two dire consequences of the Russian invasion are an increased demand for fossil fuel production that will worsen climate change, and the increased possibility of a nuclear exchange. Whatever differences exist, the interests of the U.S., Russia and China intersect. They must cooperate to avoid these catastrophes. 

The escalation of the war in Ukraine, fueled by Russian military strategy and American advanced weapons, has hardened the positions of Moscow and Kyiv. When word leaked in late March of possible promising talks between the two combatants, Boris Johnson and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made it clear to Zelensky that now was not a good time to negotiate with Russia. It needed to be taught a lesson and permanently weakened. 

Wars end through diplomacy and negotiations. The Biden administration continues to be unhelpful. The Washington Post reported the president had rejected pushing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, despite the belief of many officials that neither side is “capable of winning the war outright.” Biden has called Putin a war criminal who must be removed from power. He said recently, “I have no intention of meeting with him… . I’m not about … to negotiate with Russia about them staying in Ukraine, keeping any part of Ukraine.” A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Admiral Mike Mullen, criticized Biden’s language, saying, “We need to back off … and do everything we possibly can to … get to the table to resolve this thing.”

Howard Elterman