AMERICA AND RUSSIA MUST MOVE AWAY FROM WAR

As for the allegations of interference in elections, America is hardly in a position to be self righteous. No country has intervened in more foreign elections since World War II than America. In 1996 the same U.S. foreign policy establishment that is now howling for confrontation with Russia celebrated massive American interference in Russia's elections.

Let us be clear, neither Russia nor any other nation should be allowed to meddle in our elections. Mr. Putin should be informed in no uncertain terms that this is not acceptable. However, war is not the solution to this. Election security is. Foreign governments have been trying to interfere in US politics since the founding of our country. This is hardly a new event.

Should the rest of the world declare war on America for past US electoral interference? In the case of Ukraine there is a lot of evidence to show that America supported the violent overthrow of the legally elected government.

The heart of the problem here is Ukraine. For those who oppose a plebiscite, what is your plan? We don't see one.

The future of Ukraine should be decided by the people of Ukraine, not by the U.S. media and foreign policy establishments who cheered on the disaster in Iraq and further disasters in places like Libya and Yemen.

Disputes between the White House and intelligence agencies are hardly new. What Mr. Trump does or does not think about the same "intelligence" community that also cheered on the above disasters and others is a subject for debate. Is it really "treason" to question the "wisdom" of the FBI and the CIA? People forget that Mr. Mueller was a leading exponent of the "certainty" that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

As noted, foreign interventions in American elections is as old as America. This needs to be resolved by greater election and cyber security and careful diplomacy... not an escalation of tensions towards war. A good place to start would be to reevaluate America's own efforts at regime change around the world via the disastrous interventions in Iraq and Libya. Mr. Trump's actions against Iran today are a case study of what the world does not need. A new war powers act would be a great idea. Those who want war with Russia or other nations should be required to call for a formal declaration of war.

Regarding Mueller's indictments.... according to much of the media, this means a certainty of guilt. Really? This is dangerous insanity. How about waiting for a trial? Isn't that the way our system is supposed to work. Mueller's track record is not encouraging. It was Mueller who completely botched up the FBI's response to the bio terror attack on Congress in 2001. He concentrated on a huge campaign of persecution against a man who later turned out to be innocent.

What is not debatable is the danger of the current situation. Below is the petition we mentioned. It is a start. Those who disagree must come up with an alternative other than an escalation towards war.

Even a non-nuclear war would be devastating to the world economy. Sanctions are an act of war. More sanctions will add to the serious economic problems already created by the current sanctions. A nuclear exchange would end life on our planet. Is Crimea worth it? We think not. It's time to end the new Cold War. It's not about Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin. It's about the survival of the planet.

In 1914 all the leaders of Europe knew war would be disaster. They blundered into it anyway. Let's learn from history.

The petition that appeared in the Nation is a start. The full text and list of signers is below plus a link for any who might wish to sign. (We should note that we have no direct connection with this project.)

Many Americans remain deeply concerned about reports of Russian interference with the 2016 election. Meanwhile, relations between the United States and Russia are at their lowest and most dangerous point in several decades. For the sake of democracy at home and true national security, we must reach common ground to safeguard common interests—taking steps to protect the nation’s elections and to prevent war between the world’s two nuclear superpowers.

Whatever the truth of varied charges that Russia interfered with the election, there should be no doubt that America’s digital-age infrastructure for the electoral process is in urgent need of protection. The overarching fact remains that the system is vulnerable to would-be hackers based anywhere. Solutions will require a much higher level of security for everything from voter-registration records to tabulation of ballots with verifiable paper trails. As a nation, we must fortify our election system against unlawful intrusions as well as official policies of voter suppression.

At the same time, the US and Russian governments show numerous signs of being on a collision course. Diplomacy has given way to hostility and reciprocal consular expulsions, along with dozens of near-miss military encounters in Syria and in skies above Europe. Both sides are plunging ahead with major new weapons-development programs. In contrast to prior eras, there is now an alarming lack of standard procedures to keep the armed forces of both countries in sufficient communication to prevent an escalation that could lead to conventional or even nuclear attack. These tensions are festering between two nations with large quantities of nuclear weapons on virtual hair-trigger alert; yet the current partisan fixations in Washington are ignoring the dangers to global stability and, ultimately, human survival.

The United States should implement a pronounced shift in approach toward Russia. No political advantage, real or imagined, could possibly compensate for the consequences if even a fraction of US and Russian arsenals were to be utilized in a thermonuclear exchange. The tacit pretense that the worsening of US-Russian relations does not worsen the odds of survival for the next generations is profoundly false. Concrete steps can and must be taken to ease tensions between the nuclear superpowers.

Andrew Bacevich, Professor Emeritus, Boston University

Rev. Dr. William Barber II, President and Senior Lecturer, Repairers of the Breach, and Visiting Professor of Public Theology, Union Theological Seminary

Phyllis Bennis, Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies

Noam Chomsky, Professor, Author, and Activist

Stephen F. Cohen, Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies and Politics, NYU and Princeton University, and Board Member, American Committee for East-West Accord

John Dean, Former Nixon White House Counsel

Phil Donahue, Journalist and Talk-Show Pioneer

Thomas Drake, Former NSA Senior Executive and Whistle-blower

Daniel Ellsberg, Activist, “Pentagon Papers” Whistle-blower, and Author of The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., Founder and President, Rainbow PUSH Coalition

Jack F. Matlock Jr., Former US Ambassador to the USSR and Board Member, American Committee for East-West Accord

Michael Moore, Academy Award–Winning Filmmaker and Best-Selling Author

Walter Mosley, Writer and Screenwriter

John Nichols, National Affairs Correspondent, The Nation

Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize–Winning Novelist

Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, CUNY Graduate School

Valerie Plame, Former Covert CIA Operations Officer and Author

Adolph Reed Jr., Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

Bill Richardson, Former Governor of New Mexico

Patricia Schroeder, Former Congresswoman

Norman Solomon, National Coordinator, RootsAction.org

Gloria Steinem, Writer and Feminist Organizer

Adlai Stevenson III, Former US Senator and Chairman, Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy

Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Alice Walker, Writer, Poet, and Activist

Jody Williams, Professor and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

James Zogby, President, Arab American Institute

Signers have endorsed this Open Letter as individuals and not on behalf of any organization.

If you agree with these writers and activists, you can add your name to support this historic Open Letter for secure elections and true national security.