Speech as part of a series of delegations on February 27, 2023, urging negotiations not military escalation, along with Tamara Lorincz and Glenn Michalchuk (full playlist on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_GZoT_Kw6c&list=PLT3GGuhZmHJ04104Z46Z-oFwDdScDGprh)
I am Saleh Waziruddin, a resident of St. Catharines.
The problem with the resolution tonight is that it calls for Canada to give military support until a solution Ukraine wants, which is impossible because there is no military solution to this conflict. Except for rhetoric, most are saying it will be a long war and there is no quick victory for either side in sight.
The only realistic solution is a negotiated settlement, which means it won't satisfy everything either side wants, but it is the only way to end the conflict. But the problem is bigger than just ending a long period of senseless slaughter between two countries.
The conflict in Ukraine is not just about defending Ukraine, it's drawing most of the world into it with NATO countries sending all the weapons they can spare and Iran supplying drones to Russia. The CIA said recently China is considering sending weapons to Russia. This conflict is not going to be contained any more than any world war has been. It's going to quickly suck everyone in. This is not about defending Ukraine any more than World War I was about defending Serbia or avenging Archduke Ferdinand's assassination. We have to look at the full picture of what a military escalation, which this resolution is urging, will do. World War II had eleven times the deaths in World War I, and World War III is going to be even worse.
And this is happening fast. Japan has abandoned even the pretense of pacifism in its constitution and signed a military alliance with the UK, indirectly with NATO. US marines are deliberately going into China's missile umbrella. The US has said any attack in space will be considered an attack on its allies. When I was a child there was an anti-war song about 99 red balloons starting World War III. It's only taken one “red” balloon – maybe not the colour red – to get the shooting started.
When I spoke at Regional Council last year against escalation the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, founded by Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer among others, said we were at 100 seconds to doomsday. Now they're saying we are at 90 seconds. Professor Nouriel Roubini, who was on the Whitehouse Council of Economic Advisors under Clinton, said World War III has already started because it's broader than just Russia and Ukraine. Across on the other side of the political spectrum, war hawk John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN, has also said we're already in a World War. His conclusion is the opposite of mine though, He says since we're in a World War, what difference does it make, let's go all in. On the peace side, we are saying that's very dangerous for the whole world, we should put out the fire engulfing the world, not be enflaming it.
The debate right now is whether to escalate fully into World War III, saying Ukraine will lose if we don't, even if it goes on for years, or to choose peace and a negotiated end to the conflict. Peace through a negotiated settlement is not only realistic, the groundwork has already been going on. Ukraine and Russia have reached prisoner exchange agreements. Early on in the conflict a former Israeli Prime Minister, acting as a go-between, said a peace deal was close at hand, but pressure from the West, saying that the war would be over quickly with a military escalation, scuttled it. Well the conflict is still going on a year later. President Zelensky has recently said he is interested in China's proposal for peace. We have to let this option go forward.
But a negotiated settlement is not going to be to the satisfaction of either side, and so this resolution calling for an end to the war in a way agreeable to one side really means a military solution, and that's not realistic.
Only after this rapidly escalating war is brought to a negotiated end can further political settlements be reached peacefully. After decades of senseless killing in Ireland they came to an agreement that didn't completely satisfy either side but opened the door so that a final settlement would be arrived at peacefully and democratically, not through death and destruction.
We who are calling for a realistic peaceful solution as an alternative to a long world war are not alone. A poll released on Friday for PostMedia by Leger shows only a third of Canadians support military escalation, defined in the poll as sending more military equipment or more Canadian troops training Ukranians. There is also growing support in Canada for a negotiated peace.
The resolution mentions the duty to stand for peace, freedom, and democracy. War for freedom and democracy is something we've heard before, 20 years ago that was one of the arguments used to invade Iraq. Look at how awful that turned out. Freedom and democracy cannot be spread through war, we're hearing the same thinking again, as if we haven't learned. And peace does not mean war, that's doublespeak and if you don't agree you'll have to take that one up with George Orwell.
Also, by the way, this City has declared a climate emergency. Militaries are among the biggest polluters and have the biggest carbon footprints. We can't have it both ways.
Instead we should be urging the Canadian government to support a peaceful settlement. To quote a line from the movie Dr. Strangelove, “let's face it, we don't want to start a nuclear war unless we really have to, do we?”
This City Council needs to urge the government for a negotiated peace, not escalating a global conflict quickly getting out-of-control.
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