In an attack piece worthy of a sensational tabloid, the New York Times is training its fire on Tulsi Gabbard, president-elect Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence. Notably, the Times does not mention Gabbard’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Rather, the Times is apoplectic that Gabbard opposes the US proxy war in Ukraine and wants better relations with Russia. The Times recycles Hillary Clinton’s slander of Gabbard as a “Russian asset.”
As evidence, the Times quotes from Gabbard tweet in February 2022, as the war in Ukraine was beginning:
“This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia’s border.”
Well, NYT Editors, is that not the case? It is time that you caught up with the rest of the world, and your fellow Americans too. According to a recent Harris poll, 70% of people in the U.S. want talks to end the war in Ukraine.
The New York Times is not listening, however, nor is the Biden administration. President Biden’s unilateral decision this week to green-light attacking Russia with U.S. long range missiles has been condemned by U.S. peace groups.
“In approving these strikes, the Biden White House chose to make the US a direct party to the Ukraine-Russia war, crossing a previous red line and causing Russia to lower the threshold on the use of nuclear weapons…. A lame duck president, Biden opts for last minute escalation to make it even more difficult for the incoming administration to broker a peaceful settlement,” wrote Code Pink, World Beyond War, Veterans For Peace, the Peace In Ukraine Coaltion and the End Wars Working Group of Progressive Democrats of America.
The Biden Administration has subsequently announced it is sending internationally banned landmines to further litter the Ukrainian landscape for decades to come.
The one thing the U.S. peace movement may welcome from the incoming Trump administration – negotiations to end the war in Ukraine – is under furious attack, not only by the New York Times but by much of the political establishment. Does this mean that the peace movement, along with the majority of the American people, are now “Russian assets?”
Those who are calling for peace can expect even more slander and repression. Even now the Congress is preparing to pass a bill, H.R. 9495, which will strip nonprofit status from (“terrorist supporting”) organizations that criticize Israel or U.S. foreign policy. Peace activists, human rights advocates and defenders of the US Constitution: beware and be ready, but do not be deterred. You are a bright light in these otherwise bleak and gloomy times.
Gerry Condon is a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister who serves on the Board of Directors of Veterans For Peace. This originally appeared in the LA Progressive.