Thank you, I would like to open by thanking the honorable representatives of this organization for providing me the opportunity to speak with you today.
My name is Garland Nixon and I am a retired police official, journalist, and, in my opinion, a representative of the working class citizens of the United States. As a student of history, I recognise that the location of the United States has, with a few notable exceptions, shielded our land from the decimation of war. I also recognize that the proliferation of nuclear weapons has eliminated that geographical advantage and the people of this nation face the same existential threat as the many nations that were literally flattened during two world wars.
In February of 2022 Russia elected to enter the military conflict in Ukraine and we, average working class citizens, were provided by our media an assortment of shallow, simplistic, and often conflicting reasons for that action. Fortunately, many of us knew the truth about the potential for this escalation long before it flared up. We recall that in 2019, Oleksiy Arestovych, a close adviser to President Zelensky stated that "with a probability of 99.9%, our price for joining NATO is a big war with Russia." We recall Professor John Mearsheimer's prophetic prediction that "The West is Leading Ukraine Down the Primrose Path & the End Result is Ukraine is Going to Get Wrecked,” and lastly, we recall the list of security demands, centered around NATO expansion, that Russia issued on December 17, 2021. Notwithstanding the ahistorical claims of Russian expansion or President Putin's hostility towards democracy, we find ourselves today in an extinction level crisis that can, and must, be resolved in the manner that was initially proposed in mid December of 2021.
Since the February 2022 entrance of the Russian military into the battle, the United States government has injected over 100 billion dollars in arms and other forms of assistance to the conflict. A significant portion of that assistance took the form of small, but powerful armaments. Many of these hand held weapons possess incredible destructive capabilities. There are shoulder fired anti-aircraft weapons known as "man pads" that can easily take down a civilian passenger aircraft and anti-tank rockets that could be used with devastating effect on a convoy of civilian vehicles such as the ones that many diplomats in this room routinely utilize to traverse their respective nations. The injection of these military grade weapons into an environment as unstable as Ukraine is beyond irresponsible. In the instance of the European Union, it may end up being suicidal for many of its citizens. We are already confronted with instances of weapons from this conflict finding their way, via the black market, to Africa which means that the nations of Europe are most likely already inundated with dangerous military hardware. The leaders of Europe must recognize that this conflict will eventually come to a conclusion, and when that happens, the powerful weapons of war that will have flooded their society, will not simply melt away. The most violent and criminal elements in Europe and beyond, will possess the ability to threaten the internal stability of any nation that they choose. They will need no army or organized structure. A lone wolf attacker with an anti aircraft or an anti tank missile will be able to destabilize an entire nation with a single act. Who amongst us would be comfortable taking a commercial flight if criminal or terrorist actors shoot down a civilian plane in Paris, London, or Brussels? I can guarantee that just the mention of this potential tragedy is eliciting a fear response in those of us who routinely travel on commercial aircraft in the European region. I only wish that the inevitable ad hominem attacks against me as a speaker would change this outcome. It would be a fair and reasonable burden to accept if those who would diminish the obvious nature of my assertions could somehow alter the ghastly inevitability that the innocent citizens of Europe will be forced to endure. I implore the honorable members of this committee to push for a peaceful resolution of this conflict and an expansive project to locate and gather up the brutal weapons that will surely threaten the lives and livelihoods of the hard working citizens of the European continent and beyond.
I need not recite, word for word, the innumerable recent quotes from Western media outlets implying that the argument for a Ukrainian victory against the Russian army is no longer plausible. According to reliable sources, the Ukrainian military has lost more personnel in the last few months than the US military lost in a decade of fighting in its ill fated misadventure in Vietnam. The highly trained and powerfully equipped NATO sponsored military that opened the conflict has been wiped out and replaced by conscripts. These minimally trained troops are being placed in a hopeless situation. Those who claim to support Ukraine must recognize that putting civilians in camouflage fatigues, giving them a few weeks of training, and setting them off against impregnable defensive positions is an unconscionable act of human sacrifice. Supporting a nation obviously entails ensuring that the safety and prosperity of its citizens are secure. Recent statements and advertisements by US supporters of this conflict makes it clear that they are unconcerned with the human consequences of their decisions and clearly demonstrate a reckless disregard for the lives of the Ukrainian military people. Recently, South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham stated that "Russians dying’ the ‘best money US has spent." In this amoral but incredibly enlightening statement, Senator Graham openly exposed that he viewed the appalling numbers of dead Ukrainian soldiers as an insignificant and reasonable price to pay to achieve his ultimate political goal of weakening the Russian military. With supporters like Senator Graham, Ukraine is in little need of adversaries.
Additionally, it is critical that we consider the economic health of the hard working people of Europe. As the makers of the aforementioned weapons of war celebrate outrageous profits, the loss of cost effective Russian energy has set in motion a deadly downward economic spiral. The people of Europe are facing another cold winter with unaffordable heating costs and the very real prospect of industrial collapse. The potential for such an economic catastrophe has already sowed the seeds of political and cultural instability. Governments have begun to fall and, should the current Middle East crisis metastasize, a winter without Russian energy would result in the immediate and precipitous demise of the European economic bloc. I only wish that this claim were over the top and improbable. It is clear and obvious that the prosperity of the European region is facing great peril and we must ask ourselves whether it is moral and just to destroy centuries of economic and cultural advancements for an esoteric ideological battle.
Today we face an incredibly dangerous situation. A situation that could, without notice, spiral out of control and turn our beautiful planet into an icy uninhabited rock. However, despite the existential threat that this conflict presents, I am pleased to bring good news to this committee. Despite the devastation and loss of life that this war has visited upon the European continent, there is hope. We have a road map for peace and if reasonable diplomatic minded leaders can find the intellectual and moral wherewithal to act with haste and determination, a resolution for this conflict can give birth to a security structure that ensures peace and stability on the European continent and beyond. However, the first and most important act required to set this desired outcome into motion is that the Western Nations immediately cease contributing to the influx of weapons and secure the lives of the front line Ukrainian troops by offering a unilateral ceasefire with a guarantee, wherein non aligned nations such as those in Africa and Latin America, are authorized to ensure that this agreement is not compromised. This is not to be confused with propositions for a ceasefire that simply allow the Ukrainian military to rearm for the furtherance of future conflict. Due to the nuclear potential of this conflict, developing nations have a stake in the outcome and therefore they must be involved in its resolution.
I call upon this committee to live up to its name. This Unity of Nations has been called upon to ensure world security. From the instance that nuclear weapons were introduced into the military sphere, this time was inevitable. A time in which irresponsible leaders would threaten the existence of human kind in a blind lust for power was sure to visit itself upon mankind. However, we must also remember that this inevitability was the very foundation for the creation of this committee. I ask you to take action and live up to your calling. Stop the flow of weapons into the Ukrainian theater, push for an end to hostilities, and work for a resolution of European security that takes into account the security of the European nations, the Russian Federation, and the overall threat that this conflict presents to the existence of humanity.
I conclude by reminding you that, even as we seek to conclude this conflict with a peaceful resolution, a second wind of ill fate blows across our planet. Of the three major nuclear superpowers, the one in which I reside is pumping billions of dollars of weapons onto the border of one and literally into a province of the other. The reckless act of destabilizing and weaponizing Ukraine has a loathsome and vile twin on the Chinese Island of Taiwan. Again I remind you of the words of the ever hawkish Senator Lindsay Graham who, when speaking about the Ukraine conflict, referenced Taiwan by stating that "they are gonna fight to the last man in Taiwan." This suicidal march towards nuclear conflict must be stopped and I beseech you to begin the process immediately by stopping the flow of weapons to Ukraine and expediting a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Thank you and good day