Regarding Helen Ost’s letter (“Seek diplomacy in Ukraine,” Our Readers Views, Nov. 7), Joe Biden hasn’t dismissed diplomacy; Ukrainians have and should dismiss diplomacy until they feel secure.
The conflict is not America’s conflict, it is Ukraine’s, and the Ukrainian people are the only ones to say whether and when diplomacy and negotiations for peace will take place. Are Americans so blind with their own sense of superiority and “exceptionalism” that they think they are entitled to dictate peace for everyone?
America is powerful, yes, but not omnipotent and able to force peace down the throats of Ukrainians in the face of Russia’s continuing illegal aggression. Russia, the country that started this conflict, needs to take the first steps to end it. Ukraine has a right to all of its sovereign territory, including Crimea. Write your Congress and tell them America is not a dictatorship, like Russia. We support Ukraine; we don’t tell them how to conduct their just war.
