The Time to End the War in Ukraine is Now
When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan at the end of August 2021, it was intended to be the end of endless wars.
That moment of ‘peace’ barely had a chance to breathe before it dissipated. With an expansionist Russia on the march in February 2022, it was time for battle once again. Since then, hundreds of thousands have died, millions more have been displaced, and hundreds of billions of dollars have been lost. Yet, the conflict shows no signs of abating.
Each escalation is met with counter-escalation and a renewed stalemate. Victories on the battlefield quickly become pyrrhic victories in the long arc of war. And in the backdrop looms the ever-present threat of broader global power conflict, not to mention the risk – small as it may be – of nuclear armageddon.
In the face of this reality, there is only one logical response: the time to end the war in Ukraine is now.
September 11, 2001, changed the course of a nascent Pax Americana. In the aftermath of that fateful day, battles went from being focused to plentiful. The war on Al Qaeda gave way to an amorphous war on terror. The war on terror began to include any anti-American enemy. Irregular warfare evolved into regular warfare on rogue regimes. And soon, the world was divided between good and evil. Us and them.
What did the United States and its allies gain after two decades, millions of lives lost, and trillions of dollars squandered? Nothing. A common understanding emerged among policymakers and politicians: wars without end, discernible objectives, and achievable aims lead to needless conflict and destruction. While this lesson was learned in theory, it appears lost in practice.
In Ukraine, amnesia is afoot. Yes, Putin is evil, Russia is at fault, and tyranny is on the march. Yet, the war on terror was no different. Saddam Hussein was evil. The Taliban was at fault. And tyranny in the Middle East was on the march. It was under these very conditions that a common consensus emerged. Ending a war with a limited result is better than an endless war with no result.
Every new conflict repeats the same cycle, leading to the same conclusions. The common misjudgment made at the outset is a just cause is conflated with a just war. However, a just cause is insufficient to continue waging war, a point long established in moral, legal, and political frameworks. Many conditions exist, but the most salient over time is: “The intervention will bring more good than harm.”
In Ukraine, two years in, the male population has been decimated. There is no sight of victory on the horizon. And each move is being matched by Russia with the prospect of nuclear war edging ever closer. We must ask ourselves: why do we not have more proposals to negotiate an end to the conflict?
Today, dissent from the prevailing perspective is once again undesirable. We are in an era akin to 2002 when few voices objected to the Iraq War. Who desires to be on the side of a tyrant? Suggesting peace can be negotiated in Ukraine, an armistice can be pursued, or a ceasefire can be reached is cast as siding with the enemy.
The world is full of evil, abuses, and actions that shock the conscience. What has unfolded in Ukraine and what Ukrainian civilians have had to deal with is indeed unconscionable. Yet, a continuation of the war only exacerbates the situation. Each day more will not lead the country nor its people any closer to reclaiming what it has lost.
The world must come together to determine how best to negotiate peace and under what terms. But it starts with a clear and direct message that all policymakers and politicians should hear loudly:
The time to end the war in Ukraine is now.