Waging Peace: Canada, US and Russia's War in Ukraine

Watch a webinar discussion with Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK, who will discuss her new book “War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict.” She is joined by lawyer and activist Dimitri Lascaris for a talk on the role Canada and the US have played in Russia's war in Ukraine and the paths to peace.

SPEAKERS
Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the women-led peace group CODEPINK. She is the author of ten books, including War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict.

Dimitri Lascaris is a lawyer, human rights activist and former candidate for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada. He is based in Montréal. Follow him on Twitter @dimitrilascaris.

Organized by: Canadian Foreign Policy Institute

Moderated by Bianca Mugyenyi, CFPI

ABOUT THE BOOK: WAR IN UKRAINE
While the United States continues to send billions of dollars worth of military weapons to Ukraine, talks of actual peace solutions remain elusive. Medea Benjamin addresses why this is a mistake at a presentation of her new book War In Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless War, co-authored by Nicholas J. Davies.

Without in any way excusing Russia’s tragically mistaken and destructive intervention in a sovereign state, War In Ukraine by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas Davies digs beneath the media’s heavily propagandized headlines to look at the aggressive Western encroachments that encouraged Russia’s actions, insists that continuing arms supply in the region can only prolong a conflict in which neither side is likely to emerge as a clear victor, and points to the way a diplomatic solution can be used to end a war that is creating enormous suffering, most intensely inside Ukraine, but also across Russia, and, with soaring energy process and grain shortages, around the planet.

[lah]

Good session. Thanks Medea for your book. Thanks Dimitri for the Canadian context.

[realdemocracy]

Dimitri gives me hope that not Canadians drank the cool aid.

[andreashalay]

There are a number of misrepresented facts in this video. For instance, the incident in Odessa was independently investigated, and both sides were found culpable in contributing to circumstances that turned deadly. This video also misses many other contributing factors to the war that have nothing to do with NATO, such as Russia's political psychology, which I won't get into now. I do agree, Ukraine needs to deal with its extreme nationalist and neo-nazi groups. Interestingly, these groups were insignificant before the annexation of Crimea, with less than 2% support of the population, but their percieved legitimacy has been growing in the face of Russian aggression. And Ukraine WAS a buffer before the annexation of Crimea. In the 1990s, Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal and deprioritized its military, and in exchange, US and Russia agreed to protect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. That's why Crimea was so easy to take. The annexation triggered a U-turn in Ukraine's military policy. So did NATO provoke this war? It's one factor, but not the whole story. Peace will require understanding the full picture.

[arthurunknown]

Don't get your geopolitical & military advice from CodePink non-experts.

[Patiesiiba]

Only way NATO treatments Russia is - countries who join NATO can't be harassed anymore.