Dear Leaders,
Never before has humanity faced such overwhelming crises as we do now, with two nuclear superpowers in direct conflict with one another and on the brink of a nuclear war.
Crises involving the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as economic, environmental, energy, food, raw materials, institutions and values, in an overpopulated and congested world, never before have manifested themselves all at once as they do now!
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And, instead of the UN and the superpower leaders sitting down at the same table to provide appropriate solutions, as John F. Kennedy and Nikita S. Khrushchev did during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, today just the opposite is happening.
President Putin, the autocratic leader of Russia, is responsible for attacking an independent country, Ukraine, and occupying parts of it forcefully, while causing unprecedented destruction, and wanton physical hardship and injuries, with widespread loss of human life. Putin’s reasons are said to be to protect Russia’s security from a constant expansion by NATO close to its border, and to protect Russian nationals leaving the eastern provinces of Ukraine from Ukrainian neo-fascist, para-military forces. We are not in a position to judge if Putin is right or wrong.
How have the Western democracies responded?
Instead of looking seriously at Russia’s claims while exhausting every possible diplomatic solution, they have chosen to play tough and punitive: Biden of the USA hurling insults against President Putin, and the world’s institutions are taking unprecedented economic and financial measures against Russia. The Leaders of the European Union, which is greatly impacted by the measures, decided to acquiesce to the USA, to interrupt diplomatic relations, to return more severely to the absurdity of the Cold War, and even with an embargo on Russian ships and aircraft. And geostrategic advisers on both sides, as well as the media, are talking about nuclear warfare, as if this would solve the accumulated problems of humanity, including health and lack of wealth!
More to the point, an embargo on a superpower such as Russia, which may be equivalent in population to a medium-sized nation but in territory is the largest country in the world, makes its greatest impact by impeding the average person’s ability to make ends meet! Russia has the largest reserves of energy (oil, gas), ores, fertilizers, cereals and gold, which are currently missing from the international market and are pushing prices to unbelievable heights. Yet, markets in the West are in deficit and unable to cover the needs from other sources. As a result, the prices of all products, without exception, are on the rise with inflation, the reduction of growth comes next, people cannot meet their needs, and this spiral evolves upwards with no end in sight, because it is not possible in the foreseeable future to make up for the shortages.
Another very serious impact which the West, and in particular Europe, will be facing very soon is the lack of cereals due to the embargo on Russia. Around the Mediterranean (Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Libya) and in the countries of Central Africa, as the UN warns, a population of 250 million will be affected, resulting in famine, epidemics, deaths and, above all, a massive wave of refugees mainly to Europe and other destinations.
But then, we as ordinary citizens, see before us the specter of this complex crisis that requires immediate mobilization by the UN and the leaders of the superpowers. Instead, we see the UN rendered useless and unable to react to Russia’s Veto, and we see the interruption of the personal contacts of the superpowers – as if it were a private matter – and their resolve to take this renewed confrontation into a more pointless, deadly and destructive war for the Ukrainian people. As a result, humanity is now in a period of frenzy, while the leaders of all western countries should be concerning themselves with the recession, an immediate ceasefire and the search for a political solution. Some Western leaders are sending weapons to Ukraine and the Russians are sending new troops to the battlefield in a very dangerous and spiraling escalation towards a Nuclear Holocaust and a real threat of World War III. If the West is pushing a desperate Putin into a corner by imposing embargo measure after embargo measure, what choice is he given but to “kick” his way out, leading to the total destruction of Ukraine and the rest of the world!
That being the case, we the peace-loving members of the NATIONAL ETHNIC PRESS AND MEDIA COUNCIL OF CANADA, representing and serving 103 linguistic and cultural communities, hereby:
Appeal, in the name of all Humanity, to the Leaders of the World, and state that:
As a matter of urgency, President Biden and President Putin should leave their personal animosities aside and sit down at the same table in order to end Ukraine’s dangerous war and abolish all embargos against anyone, on both sides, which otherwise tend to divert the world onto pernicious paths of no return.
Because the war in Ukraine is part of a general confrontation between the West and East, the leaders of the superpowers (USA, EU, Russia, China, India, etc.) are jointly called upon to provide a solution to the current critical problems of humanity, which affect all peoples and bring the West into direct conflict with the countries of the East. This War in Ukraine, as everyone has seen, is not a solution but leads along a very dangerous path towards a Nuclear Holocaust. In 2022, countries, especially the strong ones, must solve their problems through Diplomacy alone and never exercise their super-power military muscle, which always leads to war and catastrophe! PEACE needs strong world leaders for Peace, not weak ones for War!
For the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada
Thomas S. Saras
President and CEO
