Peace Group Appeal to Biden Reverberates from DC to Moscow
RootsAction
(April 3, 2021) — On March 30, The Hill published an article citing a public statement issued by 27 US peace organizations calling on President Joe Biden to “to halt the use of ‘reckless’ rhetoric with Russian President Vladimir Putin and instead conduct ‘constructive bilateral talks'” with Russian leaders.
On April 1, during a broadcast interview on Channel One, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned that “the other day 27 political organizations in the United States publicly urged the Biden administration to change the rhetoric and the essence of the US approach to relations with Russia.” (Translated transcript is here.)
27 US Organizations Urge Biden to Engage in Constructive Dialogue with Russia
Biden urged to “make good on his stated commitment” that “diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy”
WASHINGTON (March 31, 2021) — A total of 27 US organizations criticized US President Joseph Biden’s remarks about his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and urged him to engage in constructive bilateral talks with Moscow, The Hill reported.
“As national organizations that advocate for diplomacy, arms control, disarmament and peace, we are deeply alarmed by the recent negative exchanges between leaders of the two countries with more than 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads in their arsenals,” the organizations wrote in a statement obtained by The Hill.
“As Americans, we urge the Biden administration to stop participating in such reckless rhetorical exchanges and to instead vigorously pursue nuclear-arms negotiations with the Russian government,” the 27 organizations, including leftist ones, said.
They urged the US president to “make good on his stated commitment” from February that “diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy.” They called upon him to engage in “constructive bilateral talks to address the clear and present dangers of the nuclear arms race has never been more apparent.”
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper published on March 30 that Russia won’t let the United States or any other country speak with it “from the position of force.”
US President Joe Biden earlier said in an interview with ABC News that the Russian authorities would have to “pay a price” for their alleged interference in US elections. In addition, when asked if he considered Putin to be “a killer,” Biden answered in the affirmative.
The White House and the US Department of State later said, however, that Washington planned to maintain cooperation with Moscow in areas of mutual interest. The Russian ambassador to the US arrived to Moscow for consultations following these statements on March 21.
Urging Biden to Halt Use of ‘Reckless’ Rhetoric About Putin, National Organizations Call for ‘Constructive Bilateral Talks’
(March 31, 2021) — Twenty-seven national organizations issued a joint statement Tuesday decrying the recent negative salvoes between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin and urging the Biden administration to “stop participating in such reckless rhetorical exchanges.”
Groups signing the statement included Demand Progress, Just Foreign Policy, Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, Progressive Democrats of America, RootsAction.org, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Veterans for Peace, Win Without War, and World Beyond War.
“We are deeply alarmed by the recent negative exchanges between leaders of the two countries with more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads in their arsenals,” the statement says. “As Americans, we urge the Biden administration to stop participating in such reckless rhetorical exchanges and to instead vigorously pursue nuclear-arms negotiations with the Russian government.”
The statement urges Biden to “make good on his stated commitment” in a Feb. 4 speech that pledged “diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy.” With tensions rising among the two nuclear superpowers, the organizations said, “the need for constructive bilateral talks to address the clear and present dangers of the nuclear arms race has never been more apparent.”
Pia Gallegos, chair of the RootsAction board, said: “With vast nuclear arsenals on hair-trigger alert, Washington and Moscow have unimaginable power to destroy human life. President Biden has a profound duty to decrease the chances of a global nuclear holocaust. We must insist on a consistently diplomatic approach. Instead of engaging in holier-than-thou rhetoric, Biden should be constructively engaging with Russia as a partner to safeguard human survival.”
“The grassroots progressive base of the Democratic Party has zero interest in a bellicose foreign policy towards Putin or Russia,” said Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America. “What people want is a safer world with international cooperation, which will allow all of us to rebound more quickly from the public health and economic catastrophe of the past year. We have no patience for Cold War saber-rattling, let alone nuclear brinkmanship.”
Below is the text of the joint statement and a list of the signing organizations.
As national organizations that advocate for diplomacy, arms control, disarmament and peace, we are deeply alarmed by the recent negative exchanges between leaders of the two countries with more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads in their arsenals.
As Americans, we urge the Biden administration to stop participating in such reckless rhetorical exchanges and to instead vigorously pursue nuclear-arms negotiations with the Russian government. The need for constructive bilateral talks to address the clear and present dangers of the nuclear arms race has never been more apparent.
With great urgency, we call upon President Biden to make good on his stated commitment that “diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy.”
Signing Organizations
• Action Corps
• American Committee for US-Russia Accord
• Backbone Campaign
• Blue America
• Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
• Center for Citizen Initiatives
• Demand Progress
• Environmentalists Against War
• Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
• Historians for Peace and Democracy
• Just Foreign Policy
• Justice Democrats
• Muslim Delegates and Allies Coalition
• Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
• NuclearBan.US
• Other98
• Our Revolution
• People for Bernie
• Progressive Democrats of America
• RootsAction.org
• Union of Concerned Scientists
• US Palestinian Community Network
• Veterans for Peace
• Win Without War
• Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, US
• World Beyond War
• Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation
