A Peaceful Solution to the Ukrainian War?
Eighty missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities early on October 10, killing 19 and wounding over 100. It is the biggest air-strike campaign of the war so far. Russia claims it was targeting energy infrastructure. Ukraine said the attacks came at rush hour and served no military purpose.
Regardless of who is right, these attacks seem to indicate that we’re entering a new, more destructive phase of the war.
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These attacks followed an October 8 attack on the bridge Russia built across the Kerch Strait. The 12-mile-long bridge is a key connection between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014. But it’s also an important symbol of strength for Russia: It’s the longest bridge in both Russia and Europe, containing more steel than 32 Eiffel Towers.
The day of the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed a new military commander to take charge of the Ukraine war: Gen. Sergei Surovikin. Putin has been criticized about Ukraine by some in his own circle. The appointment of a new commander indicates he is responding to that criticism. Almost immediately, this new commander launched the largest aerial bombardment of the war.
Military theorist Carl von Calusewitz defined “war” as “an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.” Russia failed to break Ukraine’s will with a sudden opening attack. Now it may increase the civilian casualties to try and do so.
No wonder this new approach has brought out many hoping to negotiate peace. No one wants to see the killing continue. But can it work?
I’m reminded of what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in 1945, at the foundation of the United Nations:
Success of the United Nations’ effort for world peace requires complete harmony between the Big Three. But if America and Britain are to achieve harmony with Russia, it is already apparent it will have to be at the cost of justice in the smaller Baltic and Balkan nations, and Poland. And if the rights of these helpless millions are to be trampled upon with impunity as the price of peace with Russia, then we still have no peace!
Russia wants a buffer zone. It has been invaded many times in the past. If Adolf Hitler or Napoleon Bonaparte had been able to begin their invasion from Russia’s border with Ukraine, they would have won those wars. Russia’s long-term survival is on the line.
But Ukraine wants free of a power that has inflicted great pain on it, repeatedly. Remember, by many counts, the Russians killed more Ukrainians in the man-made famines of the Holodomor than Germans killed Jews in the Holocaust. Will Ukraine once again submit to being victimized by Russia?
Some seem to think that all issues of war and peace could be fixed if people sat down and talked around the table. They’re wrong. There is no negotiation settlement that the two would accept that would provide justice for Ukraine and security for Russia.
Maybe peace will come at some point. But it will be a peace that one side is forced to accept, or that another agrees to, as they believe that in the long run, they will still win. It is the type of peace that sows the seeds for future conflicts.
Negotiations cannot bring lasting peace.
In his message at the foundation of the United Nations, Mr. Armstrong focused on the fact that God was being left out of man’s plans for peace. He said:
“Except the Eternal build the house, they labor in vain who build it.” Here at San Francisco, I see little puny men in exalted positions setting out to build a great house—a vast edifice, a high tower that will reach to the high heaven of peace! But God is not building this house!
God has not so much as been invited into this Conference.
As Mr. Armstrong explained, the causes for war and peace are ultimately spiritual in nature. Man cannot figure this out himself. And his problems will get worse until He looks to God to help him.
God is working out a solution to the Ukraine conflict, and all others. But He can only do that if man is willing to listen. If not, He will have to allow force until they will.
There is a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis: It is us listening to God. But if we refuse to do that, mankind will continue to cause worsening violence around the world.
Right now, God’s Church is celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, a festival that points to the time of peace soon coming to the world. Mr. Armstrong wrote in his booklet The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like:
You don’t have to believe it! It will happen, regardless. It is sure—the world’s only sure hope. This advance good news of tomorrow is as certain as the rising of tomorrow’s sun.
Humanity won’t bring it about—it is going to be done to us. Humanity is going to be forced to be happy—to enjoy world peace—to see universal abundance and joy fill the Earth.
Utopia? Why not. Why should it be an imaginary or impossible pipe-dream? There is a cause for today’s world chaos and threat of human extinction. That cause will be supplanted by that which will bring a utopia that is real, that is successfully functioning!
During this seven-day festival, God’s Church focuses on the way of life that will cause happiness and peace. You can too. A great way to start is by studying our free booklet The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like.