Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist whose writings are published in print and/or posted online in various US diocesan papers. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Franciscan Action Network.

As I write, war between Russia and Ukraine is dangerously close. I hope and pray that as you read this, war has not become a reality.

War between Russia and Ukraine will be a total disaster. Many mostly young combatants on all sides will lie dead. Countless innocent children, women and elderly will have their lives snatched away.  Our already very fragile environment will be gravely wounded. Mountains of money that desperately needs to be appropriated to feed millions of starving people in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Tigray will be lost. And needed funds to develop sustainable family farms, build houses, hospitals, schools, roads, solar panels, and wind turbines will go up in flames.

But political hawks and the military-industrial complex will benefit from all this blood spilling and destruction. Weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Raytheon are already raking in a fortune fueling this immoral, preventable war.

If NATO, with its build-up of troops and armaments, directly gets involved—which is very possible considering Russia’s overwhelming military superiority poised at Ukraine’s border—the Russian-Ukraine conflict could quickly escalate out of control; quite possibly leading to humanity’s worst catastrophe—thermonuclear war!

As reported by Vatican News, Colonel Konstantin Sivkov, deputy president of the Kremlin-backed Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences, is worried that military tensions between the US and Russia over Ukraine could escalate into nuclear war; citing that such a nuclear war would destroy the US and Russia and change the world forever. Please watch the realistic nuclear war movie The Day After.

It is long overdue for everyone to realize that the unthinkable is dangerously close! 

In the US, email and phone your two senators and representative (Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121), asking them to stop adding fuel to the fire by sending weapons to Ukraine, and instead ask them to urge President Biden to creatively forge ahead with a determined, tireless diplomatic strategy based on good-faith, honest mutual dialogue—including a genuine listening to the serious concerns of President Putin, Ukraine, and all parties involved.

And everyone in both the US and around the world, needs to urge Biden to act in the spirit and example of Jesus—to be a peacemaker as his, and our, Catholic faith teaches. Please email him at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

Putin has dangerously and irresponsibly initiated this current crisis. There is no moral excuse for it. Nonetheless, it is essential both morally and geopolitically for the US and NATO to walk awhile in the shoes of Putin and the Russian people.

Consider that during World War II, Hitler’s Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa—the largest, deadliest military invasion in the history of warfare—into Russia (known then as the Soviet Union). At its end, over 800,000 Soviets/Russians were killed, and an additional six million were wounded or captured.

Furthermore, the World War II Nazi Hunger Plan—the massive theft of Soviet crops—led to the starvation of more that 4 million Soviet/Russian citizens.

With all that in mind, and with many former Warsaw Pact nations now in NATO, Putin has an understandable and reasonable concern that neighboring Ukraine not become a member of NATO. Imagine the US’s response if Canada or Mexico was seeking to join in a military alliance with Russia.

It would be wise for NATO to negotiate a guarantee that Ukraine not become a member of its military alliance, and for Putin to guarantee that Ukraine’s total sovereignty as an independent nation be permanently honored with no military intimidations.  

Let us fervently ask Our Lady Queen Peace, to intercede to Our Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace, that cooler heads and peaceful hearts prevail.

Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.