Time for a Change in Washington

The recent statement by the former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, “We slaughtered people in massive numbers, innocent people who had nothing to do with their government, men, women, and children,” is a rare admission by someone in his rank. At the same time, in March 2023,  still on active duty, Milley said that Ukrainians on the current battlefields are the sons and grandsons of the people who fought against Stalin and Zhukov. Not sure if he realizes that both these statements actually disparage or even betray American World War II veterans since Milley should have known that we were allies in the war with the Nazis.

Still, when it comes to the war in Ukraine which is at the center of the current crisis, one should admit that Milley’s rhetoric is less dangerous compared with the one emanating from Biden, Blinken, and Sullivan or some of their NATO and EU colleagues like Sunak, Macron, Scholz, Duda and Co. It seems there is no indication that they are prepared to listen to the sober voices calling to give a chance for diplomacy to end this conflict.

In the US, the list of these voices is long and includes university professors and think tank experts; retired military, intelligence officers, and diplomats; journalists, and even members of Congress, regrettably, so far, only Republicans.

Their opinion was recently summarized by George Beebe and Anatol Lieven, who said that conventional wisdom’s belief that “a negotiated end to the Ukraine war is neither possible nor desirable is false.”  They correctly observed that the “war is not trending toward a stable stalemate but toward Ukraine’s eventual collapse.”

Instead, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries did not rule out that the US would have to send troops to the Ukrainian conflict zone if Kyiv is defeated. “We can’t let Ukraine fall because if that happens, there is a significant possibility that America will have to get involved in the conflict, not just with our money, but with our troops,” Jeffries said.  He also claimed that a pro-Russian faction within the Republican Party was gaining momentum and “does not want to support Ukraine and believes that Russia is not an enemy of the United States.”

Taking into account that all this is going on in the middle of the Presidential campaign, where the level of hateful rhetoric is unprecedented, there is an additional danger of using this conflict to gain an advantage in the polls.

Speaking from what is called the “Public Diplomacy” circle, let us throw an idea to use the upcoming June 6, 80th anniversary of the D-Day celebration in Normandy to initiate the process of settlement in Ukraine that would bring broader stability in Europe and the world.

As the great American historian and a former Senior international correspondent for the Washington Times, Martin Sieff, said, “The success of D-Day was only made possible by annihilating the German Army Group Center in the East. That supreme Soviet victory did not just break the back of the still formidable Wehrmacht: It vaporized it. In the end, nine out of every 10 German soldiers killed in World War II were killed by the Red Army, as Winston Churchill openly admitted.”

Inviting Russia to join in these celebrations would be a Grandstand showing that at least some of the sacred values of Western civilization are still alive.

Edward Lozansky is President of American University in Moscow.