In this time of war, where are the calls for peace?

I can’t turn my head from the TV screen.

The images are horrible.

But what else could they be in a full out war.

Of course, U.S. media is very selective about the wars it chooses to show.

Lester Holt picks his remote report spots carefully.

Yet, as Chris Hedges writes,

Rulers divide the world into worthy and unworthy victims, those we are allowed to pity, such as Ukrainians enduring the hell of modern warfare, and those whose suffering is minimized, dismissed, or ignored. The terror we and our allies carry out against Iraqi, Palestinian, Syrian, Libyan, Somali and Yemeni civilians is part of the regrettable cost of war. We, echoing the empty promises from Moscow, claim we do not target civilians. Rulers always paint their militaries as humane, there to serve and protect. Collateral damage happens, but it is regrettable. 

What is missing from the mouths of pundits and the President is any talk of peace.

It may sound simplistic, but I’m for peace.

Talk. Even a truce. Negotiate.

In the end I have no doubt that the Russians have the overwhelming ability to take Ukraine.

But then what? As the United States (and Russia in Afghanistan) learned after two decades, thousands dead and trillions spent, it is easier to get in than to get out.

While the U.S. media is in love with Ukraine’s Zelensky, his calls for no-fly zones - while currently and thankfully ignored - are a call for escalation and wider conflict.

I’m for de-escalation.

I’m not impressed by McDonald’s, Starbucks and Coke pulling out of Russia.

It will probably mean healthier Russians.

How many Russians and Ukrainians must die before talks begin?

I’m for negotiations to start sooner than later.

Unless this spirals out of control and into a possible nuclear confrontation, there will be negotiations.

So why aren’t our leaders pressing for it now?

In whose interest is it that there be more war?

More dead.