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the call

Dear Director,

The threat of a nuclear apocalypse is nothing new. The corn has already been used. It is not impossible for her to repeat herself. This case has been extensively contemplated in strategy handbooks. In the face of this threat, public opinion appears dangerously addicted. Neither a strong popular reaction nor a convincing and rational will to prevent it. There is a dangerous sense of inevitability and capitulation, or worse, the idea that only “confrontation” can give birth to a new and stable world order.

But today no war can impose an order that does not remain under the rubble of the planet, peoples and all humanity. We cannot give up on ourselves. But a rational will for peace must present a credible scenario for ending this conflict, which erupted with Russian aggression after very serious tensions in the Donbass. A struggle that cannot be completely won on one side and completely defeated on the other, according to Manichaean conception of the world and history.

All actors in the conflict, who are in the theater of war and who are feeding it or not preventing it, must be aware of this. We must de-escalate and prevent sleepwalking disaster. With this in mind, we believe responsible governments should move along: 1) the neutrality of Ukraine joining the EU, but not NATO, in accordance with the recognized commitment, even if verbal, of the United States to Gorbachev’s Russia after the fall of The Wall and the unilateral dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. 2) agreed recognition of the de facto status of Crimea, traditionally Russian and illegally “donated” by Khrushchev to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. 3) Autonomy for the Russian-speaking regions of Lugansk and Donetsk within Ukraine in accordance with the Minsk treaties, with genuine European guarantees or popular referendums under the supervision of the United Nations. 4) Determination of the administrative status of the other disputed territories of Donbass for the administration of the Russian-Ukrainian crucible introduced in the history of those areas and possibly with the creation of an equal Russian-Ukrainian body to manage the mineral wealth of those areas in their common interest. 5) Consistent cancellation of European and international sanctions and Russia’s military commitment in the region. 6) The International Plan for the Reconstruction of Ukraine.

In our opinion, these may be realistic and credible starting points for a ceasefire. Finally, Elon Musk’s proposal goes in a similar direction, and for some time now Henry Kissinger has been urging a solution that, while respecting Ukraine’s causes, together provides a way out of Putin’s military failure on the ground. These are essentially the most credible lines of negotiation possible and necessary, even for the only global agency truly working for peace, the Church of Rome.

This solution suits everyone, even the West and especially the countries of the European Union, the most threatened by the hypothesis of a desperate Russian nuclear attack. And as for Ukraine itself, if it does not want the new Korea to be in the heart of Europe for the next 50 years. Let us free reason and politics from the shackles of hatred, and may we also find the heart and intelligence to put an end to this carnage. It is a call to all, for those who listen to it and want to relaunch it and take charge of it.

Antonio Baldassar, Petrangelo Botafoco, Massimo Cacciari, Franco Cardini, Agostino Carino, Francesca Izu, Mauro Magati, Eugenio Mazzarella, Giuseppe Vaca, Marcello Veneziani, Stefano Zamani

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