Urging Biden to Halt Use of 'Reckless' Rhetoric About Putin, National Organizations Call for 'Constructive Bilateral Talks'

By RootsAction

30 March 21

wenty-seven national organizations issued a joint statement Tuesday decrying the recent negative salvoes between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin and urging the Biden administration to “stop participating in such reckless rhetorical exchanges.”

Groups signing the statement included Demand Progress, Just Foreign Policy, Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, Progressive Democrats of America, RootsAction.org, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Veterans for Peace, Win Without War, and World Beyond War.

“We are deeply alarmed by the recent negative exchanges between leaders of the two countries with more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads in their arsenals,” the statement says. “As Americans, we urge the Biden administration to stop participating in such reckless rhetorical exchanges and to instead vigorously pursue nuclear-arms negotiations with the Russian government.”

The statement urges Biden to “make good on his stated commitment” in a Feb. 4 speech that pledged “diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy.” With tensions rising among the two nuclear superpowers, the organizations said, “the need for constructive bilateral talks to address the clear and present dangers of the nuclear arms race has never been more apparent.”

Pia Gallegos, chair of the RootsAction board, said: “With vast nuclear arsenals on hair-trigger alert, Washington and Moscow have unimaginable power to destroy human life. President Biden has a profound duty to decrease the chances of a global nuclear holocaust. We must insist on a consistently diplomatic approach. Instead of engaging in holier-than-thou rhetoric, Biden should be constructively engaging with Russia as a partner to safeguard human survival.”

“The grassroots progressive base of the Democratic Party has zero interest in a bellicose foreign policy towards Putin or Russia,” said Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America. “What people want is a safer world with international cooperation, which will allow all of us to rebound more quickly from the public health and economic catastrophe of the past year. We have no patience for Cold War saber-rattling, let alone nuclear brinkmanship.”

Below is the full text of the joint statement and a list of the signing organizations.

As national organizations that advocate for diplomacy, arms control, disarmament and peace, we are deeply alarmed by the recent negative exchanges between leaders of the two countries with more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads in their arsenals. As Americans, we urge the Biden administration to stop participating in such reckless rhetorical exchanges and to instead vigorously pursue nuclear-arms negotiations with the Russian government. The need for constructive bilateral talks to address the clear and present dangers of the nuclear arms race has never been more apparent. With great urgency, we call upon President Biden to make good on his stated commitment that “diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy.”

Signing organizations
Action Corps
American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord
Backbone Campaign
Blue America
Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Demand Progress
Environmentalists Against War
Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
Historians for Peace and Democracy
Just Foreign Policy
Justice Democrats
Muslim Delegates and Allies Coalition
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
NuclearBan.US
Other98
Our Revolution
People for Bernie
Progressive Democrats of America
RootsAction.org
Union of Concerned Scientists
U.S. Palestinian Community Network
Veterans for Peace
Win Without War
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S.
World Beyond War
Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation