Here’s a thought exercise: if NATO’s borders had remained as they were at the Cold War’s end, would Putin have been content to remain within Russia’s present borders? I know my answer.

I come across people who emphatically insist that the primary responsibility of the U.S. peace and anti-imperialist movements is to mobilize against NATO’s expansion and NATO itself. Really? I have to admit the logic escapes me. It strikes me as faux anti-imperialism. Here’s why.

First of all, such a posture is, on its face, indifferent to the suffering of millions of Ukrainian people as well as an abdication of any responsibility to stop Russia’s murderous assault on Ukraine. People, including children, are dying, millions are fleeing, and a country is being destroyed. Shouldn’t that concentrate the mind and actions of the U.S. peace and anti-imperialist movements? People who don’t live in the political universe of the “movement” – and that’s most people – surely will find this seeming indifference hard to understand. I sure do. It strikes me as callous, irresponsible, and a failure of political imagination.

Second, expansion eastward of NATO is a fait accompli. It’s a done deal, And there is little appetite at this moment to admit Ukraine, except from a growing number of Ukranians for understandable reasons. Before Putin’s invasion, the voices for NATO admission from within Ukraine were a minority. A neutrality status, perhaps Finland-like, commanded support across significant layers of the political establishment and society.

Third, any hope of rolling back and dismantling NATO turns on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, a cessation of the conflict, and a resumption of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. As long as the war continues and death, destruction, and dislocation mount, the room for substantive negotiations addressing Ukrainian sovereignty as well as the security needs of Russia, the status of NATO, and a new security and peace architecture in Europe will be small indeed.  

Thus, the immediate task of peace and anti-imperialist movements is to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. It is the key link that, if grasped, will move the whole chain of interconnected issues foward.

Sun Tzu, the Chinese theorist of war, wrote that you must always build your opponent a “golden bridge” so that he can find a way to retreat. Can such a bridge be built that would persuade Putin to end his barbaric war against Ukraine? I don’t know. But I do know this – that’s what sober minded and responsible leaders are supposed to do at moments like this!

Am I missing something? Or are U.S. peace organizations flatfooted as the Russian invasion of Ukraine goes into its 4th week? Where are the mass demonstrations demanding a cease fire, withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people, suspension of sanctions and arms, and resumption of negotiations between the two governments?

I hear people on the left say that Ukraine is not much more than a nestful of fascists and Nazis as reason to temper their criticism of Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. What is astonishing here? It is the indisputable fact that Putin is an imperialist minded, anti democratic, racist, authoritarian, fascist like leader who enjoys the support of a powerful white Christian, hyper natonalist, cross class constituency in Russia and elsewhere. But that doesn’t seem to register in their thinking in any significant way.