A young Ukrainian girl’s biggest wish: ‘To end the war now’. Courtesy/Zhen Huang
By Zhen Huang
Los Alamos
During the unannounced visit to Kyvi, President Biden repeated what he said at a joint news conference in the White House with the Ukraine’s President Zelensky Dec. 21, 2022:
“The American people are with you every step of the way, and we will stay with you. We will stay with you for as long as it takes.”
“As long as it takes”?
It’s been one year since the decade-long military conflicts in eastern Ukraine escalated to a full scale war. The Ukraine people have endured a year of escalating violence, trauma, destruction and displacement. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), as a result of the war in Ukraine, an estimated 7.1 million children displayed, including more than 1.2 million children within Ukraine.
“As long as it takes” means that, as UNICEF warned, “Ukraine children continue to be killed, wounded and deeply traumatized by violence that has sparked displacement on a scale and speed not seen since World War II.”
If we were to ask the millions of Ukraine children, what would they say? You Big Uncles feel free to play your war games “as long as it takes”?
As a kid who suffered World War II for her entire childhood, when my mother heard President Biden talking about “as long as it takes”, she recalled those long wartimes and asked, “How long is long?”
During World War II, my mother’s hometown was among the deadliest hit. When tens of thousands of Japanese Army invaders landed on the seashore about 30 miles from my mother’s hometown, my mother was a second grader. When World War II came to a stop, my mother was a high school student. During the Chinese Civil War afterwards, my mother taught in a countryside elementary school for three years.
How long is long? When my mother had to shelter underneath a table during Japanese air shelling and endured the sound of explosions near and far, when she saw gray smoky skies through a huge hole made by shelling over the roof of her home, when she saw bodies of children of her age killed by shelling floating over the river behind her home… every minute was as long as a year.
How long is long? When my mother’s elementary school was bombed to the ground, when she looked forward to going back to school every day, when she went to a school occupied by Japanese and was forced to learn colonial language… every day was as long as a year.
How long is long? When my mother had to lead her students to hide in the reed fields to escape from the frequent assault of armed deserters and bandits, when she taught those little kids to hold their breath to mentally count numbers from one to one hundred to overcome fears … every second was as long as a year.
When the Chinese Civil War finally ended, my mother was able to go back to college to pursue her Architect dream. For my mother’s generation who experienced a long time of endless wars, they appreciated the invaluable Peace so much that they strived to recover the lost time to rebuild our war devastated country…
How long is long? When my mother studied in college, they wished that every minute and every second could be stretched to months and years, but still felt not as long as they wished.
How long is long? It seems to be a question that can be explained by Einstein’s Relativity Theory. In the space of Peace and War, the length of time is so strikingly different.
No doubt we wish the Ukraine children will have their happy minute and second in a space of Peace. In order to reach such a goal, we need to achieve Peace for them. Einstein had an inspiring advice about how to achieve Peace.
“Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjugate a nation forcibly unless you wipe out every man, woman, and child. Unless you wish to use such drastic measures, you must find a way of settling your disputes without resorting to arms.”
Einstein pointed out the only way by which we can achieve Peace, that is, “by understanding”.
Understanding can only be achieved by talk, dialogue, discussion, debate… that is, by all means of communication.
In response to President Biden’s “as long as it takes”, Ukraine’s President Zelensky proposed “to end the war” in 2023.
I remember that President Biden also expressed his intention “to end the war” but with an “IF” condition during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in White House on December 1, 2022:
“I’m prepared to speak with Mr. Putin, if in fact there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war. He hasn’t done that yet.”
I remember that before the war, Washington and Moscow did have talks, but stopped at the issue regarding “remove NATO’s strategic nuclear forces from Russia’s border” that Washington rejected.
If we look back at a little of the history, a quarter of a century ago, Russia proposed to establish “a nuclear free zone in central Europe”. Unfortunately, because of some “IF” conditions, Russia’s proposal was rejected.
Apparently, in order to achieve the Peace for the Ukraine children, the world leaders need a long overdue talk.
China has proposed its 12-points for the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis. As we can see, Zelensky welcomed it. But the US did not have the stand as it claimed, “we will stay with you” at “every step on the way.”
I think that it was because Washington doesn’t understand what China’s 12-points proposal really means, probably because of some language barrier or cultural differences. So I have to play that little boy who told that mighty king the inconvenient truth about his glorious new crown.
Let’s look at the first two points, which are the keys to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
P#1, Respect the sovereignty of all countries: It implies, Russia gives back all the occupied territories of Ukraine. This one is very obvious.
P#2, Abandon the Cold War mentality: That implies, NATO should eliminate all “enemy lines” (not my invention, check the official documents from the Committee on Foreign Relations), such as strategic nuclear deployments around the Russia border. This one is not so obvious, but should not take “as long as it takes” to figure it out.
All the others are sort of “byproducts” that can be taken care of easily as the first two key points are resolved.
Clearly, for the space of Peace that Ukraine children have looked forward to for so long a time, the US needs to remove the “IF” conditions, to take proactive actions, because such a space is contingent on the actions of both Moscow and Washington.
Einstein also said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, then you don’t understand it yourself.”
For those who believe sending more weapons “as long as it takes” can resolve conflicts, you need to explain it to the Ukraine children.
Why can’t you Big Uncles go find a place on your computer screens to play your war games “as long as it takes”?
What new high-tech toys could you think of using in order to “win” the war games except sticks and stones that Einstein could think of?
How long will it take for you to clean up your battlefields to give back our playgrounds to us?
If you can’t explain these questions to the Ukraine children, you don’t know what you are doing.
When I looked at this Ukrainian girl holding her Teddy Bear dearly (pictured above), I understood her biggest wish: to End the War Now!