Pearls and Irritations

In contrast to the voices and actions of the governments of U.S., U.K. and Australia inflaming the situation in Ukraine, voices from citizens and organisations for de-escalation and peaceful resolution are being raised around the world.

Over the past few months, we have seen the voices and actions of the governments of the United States, the UK and Australia contributing to an escalation of the tensions in Ukraine and those voices and actions given extensive and persistent exposure in the western main stream media. For more than a month now we have been subjected to cries of “an imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces” by the western press. We have been told that Putin has an invasion plan but no evidence of that has been given. Putin has consistently said that no invasion by Russia is planned or intended. Further contributing to an increase in tensions has been the United States telling their diplomats in Ukraine to leave for the safety of themselves and their families because of the “imminent threat of a Russian invasion and the “bloody war” which would follow. Predictably, the Australian Government slavishly followed this U.S. lead and ordered Australian diplomats to leave Ukraine for the same exaggerated reasons further contributing to de-stablisation of the situation.

Even the President of the Ukraine expressed criticism of these U.S. and Australian actions saying these moves were premature, ultra-conservative and that the situation did not warrant it. One should ask whether the U.S., UK and Australian governments are serious about seeing a peaceful solution in Ukraine or secretly harbor a desire for war.

In contrast to these governments, voices for de-escalation and a peaceful solution have been raised world-wide including in Australia. In the USA an Open Letter to the U.S. government signed by more than 100 national and regional U.S. organizations and released on 1^st February 2022 urged President Biden “to end the U.S. role in escalating the extremely dangerous tensions with Russia over Ukraine.” The groups said: “it is gravely irresponsible for the president to participate in brinkmanship between two nations that possess 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.”

In Australia, an Open Letter to the Australian government organised by the independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) has been signed by over 400 individuals and organisations over the past week. It reads as follows:

“We, the people, call on you, Prime Minister Morrison, Defence Minister Dutton and Foreign Minister Payne to use your close relationship with the UK Foreign and Defence Ministers and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to advocate:

* for the US and UK to allow the Minsk 11 agreement parties, Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine who signed the agreement in 2015, to resolve the current crisis,

* for the United Nations to be the institution tasked to manage the wider implications of the current crisis and to seek peace between the parties

* and to ensure NO nuclear weapons are on stand-by in the current crisis.”

Signed by:

Rita Camilleri, Junko Abe, Rita Ackermann, Bruce Adams, Andrea Albuquerque, Rhonda Andrews, Dennis Argall, Brian and Maureen Arnott, Jon Atkins, Laurence Balshaw-Blake, Sabina Baltruweit, Claudia Barduhn, Jan Barnett, David Bartlett, Stella Bartlett, Dominica Bartlett, Harshini Bartlett, Debra Beattie, Margaret Beavis, Ted Benjamin, helen bennett, Gerard Bennett, Rivqa Berger, Ray Bergmann, Michelle Berkon, Gyorgy Bernard, Richard Blackshell, Gillian Blair, Janice Blakeney, Bea Bleile, Peter Blunden, Judy Blyth, Janny BoersmaI, Imre Bokor, Barbara Bolster, Jennifer Bond, GREG BOND, Kathleen Bower, Kevin Bracken, Clifford Braddon, Denis Bright, David Brindley, Adam Broinowski, Alison Broinowski, Richard Broinowski AO, Alexander Brown, Annette Brownlie, Mark Brownrigg, Jane Brownrigg, Margid Bryn-Burns, Chilla Bulbeck, Nina Burridge, Nick Butler, Michael Carden, Michelle CAVANAGH, Greg Chapman, Ka Chua, Steve Cleary, Jacqueline Clements, Catharine Clements, Douglas Clifford, Michele Cochrane, Janet Cohen, Kristine Conlan, Susan Connelly, hilary cook, Gerardine Cooney, Eon Cooper, Ian Curr, Belinda Curtis, Margaret Daly, Pam Danson, John Davidson, Greg Davies, kerry davies, Joy DAVISON-LEE, Nick Deane, Catriona Devlin, Denis Doherty, Roger Donoghoe, Cat Dorey, Linda Du Boulay, Cheryl DUFFIN, Peter Duffy, Faye Duncan, Alison Durant, Deborah Durnan, Judith Durnin, Heather Eckersley, Marianne Ehrhardt, David D Elder, Jo Errey, Jennifer Esbenshade, Henry Esbenshade, Robert Farrell, Kieran Finnane, Wendy Flannery, Cathie Fletcher, Barbara Fletcher, Ian Fletcher, Wilf Flint, Lynda Forbes, Lynda Forbes, Jenny Forster, Nancy Freddi, Sergio Fredes, andrew fullarton, George Garnsey, Rona GARRIE, Peter Geelan-Small, Stephen Gentle, Keith Gerrard, Carmel Giles, Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo, Jonathan Graham, Lyn Greenop, geraint gregory, Jerry Grey, Peter Griffin, Peter Grube, Reyne Grullemans, Peter Grullemans, Howard Guille, ron guy, Ross Gwyther, Ruth Haig, Jennifer Haines, John Hallam, Bruce Hallett, Rosemary Harbridge, Margaret Hardy, Margaret Hardy, Peter Harpas, Marion Harper, Paul Harris, Olivetta Harris, Julie Hart, Barbara Hartley, Stephen Hay, Tom Hayes, Peter Hayes, marigold hayler, Mal Haywood, Judy Hemming, Roslyn Henderson, Michael Henry, Peter Herborn, Lawry Herron, dale hess, Doug Hewitt, Amanda Hickey, David Higginbottom, Greg Hillcoat, Betsy Holden, Brad Hooper, Stephen Horn, Lyn Hovey, Patricia Hovey, Ian Hughes, Merriel Hume, Abigail Humphreys, Phillip Huntley, Lachlan Hurse, Frank Hutchinson, Graham Irvine, Keri James, Carla Jansen, Graham Jenkin, Robyn Jenkin, M.Marlene Jewell, harry johnson, Evan Jones, Dianne Jones, David Jones, Valerie Joy, Dawn Joyce, Jim KABLE, Cheryl Kaulfuss, Katie Keays, Stephen Kelly, Maureen Kelly, Michael Khalsa, Fayeza Khan, Marcia King, David King, Ariya Kiratikanon, Maree Klemm, Kristine Klugman, MARY KOSTAKIDIS, May Kotsakis, Zakaria Kouli, Cameron Leckie, Norma Lee, Rosemary Levy, Peter Limb, Nora Liston, nicole livar, Susan Locke, Penny Lockwood, Rosemary Longhurst, Lyn Longo, Don Longo, Greg Lucas, Melita Luck, Janice Lumley, Jennifer Macdougall, Bronwyn Marks, Julie Marlow, Peter Martin, Shahnaz Martin, Boris Martinac, Sandy Marty, Tom Marwick, beverley maskell, Rosemary Mattingley, Ian McCallum, Kisten McCandless, Chris McCarthy, ian mccomb, Anne McConnell, Gavan McCormack, S McDermott, Andrew Mcguiness, Marita McInerney, Maureen McKeown, Michael McKinley, Wallace McKitrick, Niall McLaren, Janette McLeod, Bernadette McPhee, Hannah Middleton, Les Mitchell, Colin Mitchell, Beth Moran, Anna Moras, Hunter Morgan, Andrew Morrison, Jane Morrison, Judith Morrison, Rosemary Morrow, Claude MOSTowik msc, Janet Mundie, Peter Murphy, Dennis Murphy, Adriana Navarro, Honey Nelson, Darryl Nelson, Anitra Nelson, Patricia Nesbitt, Ian Newman, Barry Newton, Barbara Nielsen, Anne Noonan, Sally O’Wheel, Margaret O’Callaghan, Denis O’Donnell, Lin Oke, Marion Oke, Anthony Oldfield, Trevor Omara, Jennifer Osborne, Gladys Pagendam, Pia Pagotto, Rob Parkes, Patrick Pemberton, Christina Pender, Lindsay Peters, Cathy Peters, Sally Petherbridge, Sally Petherbridge, Barbara and Bob Pharoah, frank pigott, Beverley Polzin, Vivienne Porzsolt, Cristie Potter, David Purnell, Madonna Quixley, Bevan Ramsden, Rose Read, Anthony Reid, Liz Ridley, Antoinette Riley, Tony Robertson, Geraldine Robertson, Kenneth Robinson, Gem Romuld, Barbara Sage, peter sago, ingrid schreiner, gil scrine, Maureen Sexton, Eddie Seymour, Peter Shannon, Nathalie Shepherd, Miki Shigeno, Nizza Siano, Shannon Slight, Joan Smith, Michele Smith, Alan Stewart, Sarah Stitt, Nikky Stone, Ruth Strachan, Ian Stuart, Barbara Sutherland, Beverley Symons, Lilo Szlavek, Karl Tattersall, Mark Taylor, Jane Taylor, Lorel Thomas, Maureen Todhunter, Irene Tognetti, Margaret Tonkin, Josephine Topp, Innez Tulloch, David Turbayne, justin tutty, Frank Vavasour, Laura Velm, V. George Venturini, Megan Walker, Kieran Walsh, Margaret Walters, Sue Wareham, Rita Warleigh, Merrilyn Wasson, Ruth Watson, Carolyn Weidner, Lorraine Wheeler, Robert WHITE, Philip White, Jo Whitehead, Eileen Whitehead, Reg Wilding, Mara Wiliams, Barbara Williams, Michael Williss, Shirley Winton, Ron Witton, Simon Wood, Linda Wood, Hyunhwee Yi, Elizabeth Young, Stephen Yuen, Anne Yuille, Annelies Zeissink, Dragana Zivancevic, Ann Zubrick,

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