by John V. Walsh \/ July 23rd, 2018<\/p>\n
\nIt is rare that we praise Donald Trump, but meeting with both Kim Jung Un and Vladimir Putin was the right thing to do<\/strong>.\u00a0If our goal is to build peace, then calm talks, rather than threats and military escalation, are always the better path to take.<\/p>\n
\u2014 CodePink Statement, June 17, 2018 (Emphasis in the original.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Thus read CodePink\u2019s remarkable and courageous statement<\/a> in the wake of the Helsinki Summit.\u00a0 To link the word \u201cpraise\u201d with President Trump is to invite ostracism in progressive circles \u2013 even when nuclear Armageddon is the issue.\u00a0 But CodePink succumbed neither to Trump Derangement Syndrome nor to the related disorder Russophobia.<\/p>\n
Does CodePink\u2019s statement portend the dissipation of these twin maladies?\u00a0 Unfortunately not. \u00a0CodePink appears to remain the exception, not the rule.<\/p>\n
To understand this, let\u2019s turn to an \u201cOpen Letter<\/a>\u201d in The Nation<\/em> on July 11, just before the Helsinki Summit, signed by a variety of individuals and appearing under the names of five organizations<\/a>: RootsAction, Just Foreign Policy, World Beyond War, Progressive Democrats of America and Peace Action \u2013 \u00a0a cross section of the progressive peace movement. \u00a0Let\u2019s note at the outset that some of the Letter\u2019s signatories have done admirable work in combatting Russophobia.<\/p>\n
The title of the Open Letter is \u201cCommon Ground: For Secure Elections and True National Security.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cSecure Elections\u201d comes first, a device for…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n