Open Letter to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation concerning Jeffrey Sachs



September 17, 2023

Dear President Hughes, Chair Bognar, Members of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Board:

We the undersigned appreciate your work against the spread, possession, and use of nuclear weapons. We are stunned, however, that you are honoring Jeffrey Sachs as a “Distinguished Peace Leader.” His attitudes, interviews, and speeches concerning the Russian invasion of Ukraine do not further peace. To the contrary, he repeats simplistic cliches which put a false light on a complex and dangerous situation. He has appeared with and lent influence to Vladimir Solovyov, an overtly belligerent advocate of Russian aggression who has openly called for a nuclear first strike against Ukraine. 

We are appalled that despite decades of work educating the public about the dangers of thermonuclear weapons, NAPF has apparently overlooked this failure of Jeffrey Sachs to be in any manner helpful in reducing the risk of nuclear escalation. To the contrary, his every word and deed with regard to Ukraine only fuels misunderstanding, suspicion, and fear.

As you know the fighting in Ukraine is not just another war. There is a real risk of it leading to the use of nuclear weapons primarily as a result of nuclear bullying by the Russian Federation. 

Russia has moved nuclear warheads into close proximity to Ukraine’s cities and made overt threats to use them. Already Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants threatens massive releases of radiation.

Sachs has appeared five times on the programs of Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov on March 9, 2023, June 3, 2023, June 22, 2023, July 12, 2023 and on August 2, 2023 , only criticizing actions of the “West” and Ukraine’s government.  Sachs never mentions (let alone condemns) Solovyov’s calls for the use of nuclear weapons against Ukrainians, which Solovyov made on  November 21, 2022, January 25, 2023 , June 22, 2023 and August 22, 2023.

In March 2023, scores of economists wrote to Sachs in an open letter noting Sachs “repeated appearances on the talk shows of one of the chief Russian propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov (apart from calling to wipe Ukrainian cities off the face of the earth, [Solovyov] called for nuclear strikes against NATO countries)”.  

How can an organization dedicated to avoiding nuclear war honor someone who will appear on a program with a man who has repeatedly advocated for the immediate use of nuclear weapons?

In an article in June 2022 in Tikkun, Sachs baldly states, “The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement.” Putin’s project to restore the Russian empire is not mentioned, nor are the majority of Ukraine supporters “neocons.”

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in its own Declaration of Concern notes that the Russian attack is a violation of the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. Sachs never brings that up. Instead, he talks again and again about “NATO enlargement” and “hegemony.” One would think the invading force that crossed the border into Ukraine came from Poland or Estonia. The views Sachs expressed in Tikkun were not a one off. Sachs repeatedly claims that Putin was provoked into war. Repeatedly Sachs touts the supposed power in offers of negotiations and claims that, “President Putin wants political outcomes that, in my view, absolutely can be met at the negotiating table.” Sachs maintains this even while Putin has annexed large and resource-rich sections of Ukraine, which Putin says Russia will retain “forever.”

We don’t agree that Sachs is a peacemaker. He’s an economist, one with a dreadful record in Russia; the social conditions that Sachs helped to create there were are widely viewed as contributing to the rise of the Putin kleptocracy. Sachs' “shock therapy” formula for Russia led it to sell off collectively owned institutions and rush to a poorly planned, makeshift capitalist system. Russia ended up with “tycoon capitalism.” For the Russian people this was a social disaster with Russia’s population declining very significantly.  


We call on you to withdraw the designation of Jeffrey Sachs as a “Distinguished Peace Leader” and to withdraw his invitation to speak at your meeting.


SIGNED

  1. J. Talmadge Wright, Professor Emeritus in Sociology, Loyola University Chicago
  2. Denys Bondar, Associate Professor of Physics, Tulane University
  3. Stanley Heller,  Administrator, Promoting Enduring Peace
  4. Oleg Gredil, Associate Professor of Finance, Tulane University, New Orleans
  5. Tatyana Deryugina, Associate Professor of Finance, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  6. Anastassia Fedyk, Assistant Professor of Finance, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
  7. Tania Babina, New York NY USA, Columbia Business School
  8. Yuriy Gorodnichenko, professor of economics, University of California - Berkeley
  9. Ilona Sologoub, VoxUkraine NGO
  10. David G. Embrick, University of Connecticut
  11. Meghan Keane, NYC, Founding Director of Emergent Horizons (501c3)
  12. Adrian Ivakhiv, Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Vermont
  13. James Hodson, Chief Executive Officer, AI for Good Foundation
  14. Kevin B Anderson, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
  15. Igor Tregub, Founder, Shine On Ukraine Energy Democracy Project, Berkeley, CA
  16. Daniel Schaefer, Assistant Professor of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz
  17. Dariia Mykhailyshyna, PhD Student in Economics, University of Bologna
  18. Julian Reif, Associate Professor of Finance and Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  19. Valeria Fedyk, PhD Student in Finance, London Business School
  20. Iryna Dronova, Associate Professor, Environmental Science, Policy & Management, UC Berkeley
  21. Artur Doshchyn, Departmental Lecturer in Economics, University of Oxford
  22. Hilary Barth, Professor of Psychology, Wesleyan University
  23. Maria Popova, Associate Professor, Political Science, McGill University
  24. Robert Romanchuk, Tallahassee, 
  25. Anna Nagurney, Eugene M. Isenberg Chair in Integrative Studies, UMass Amherst
  26. Luca Fumarco, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Masaryk University
  27. Sergey Frolov, Professor, Physics. University of Pittsburgh
  28. Bohdan Kukharskyy, Assistant Professor of Economics, City University of New York
  29. Olivier Coibion, Professor, Economics, University of Texas at Austin
  30. Denys Pilash, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
  31. Mohammed Zaher Sahloul, Chicago, MedGlobal
  32. Andrii Maksymov, Staff Quantum Theorist, IonQ, MD USA
  33. Michael Karadjis, Western Sydney University
  34. Mayson Almisri 
  35. Tatiana Fedyk, San Francisco, University of San Francisco
  36. Linda Mann, Minneapolis, MN Ukraine Socialist Solidarity Campaign
  37. Ted Zuur
  38. Olha Zadorozhna, Poland
  39. Kseniia Minakova, Assoc.Prof., Physics Department, National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute", Kharkiv, Ukraine 
  40. Daria Mattingly, Lecturer, University of Cambridge
  41. Andrew Kosenko, School of Management, Marist College
  42. Samuel Skoda, Assistant Professor, University of Oslo
  43. Harry Pei, Northwestern University
  44. Stan Veuger, Washington, DC, American Enterprise Institute 
  45. Hlib Vyshlinsky, Ukraine, Centre for Economic Strategy, Executive Director
  46. Lukasz Rachel, London, UCL
  47. Marco Da Rin, Tilburg University
  48. Michael Weber, Chicago, University of Chicago
  49. Clemens Mueller, Assistent Professor, Erasmus University Rotterdam 
  50. Nikolai Roussanov, Professor of Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
  51. Sandra Bernick, PhD Student im Economics, Imperial College London
  52. Svitlana Loietska, Head of two charitable foundations, lawyer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, Kyiv, Ukraine
  53. Hanna Terletska, Associate professor of physics, TN, USA
  54. Oleksiy Kryvtsov
  55. Dirk Mattheisen, Writer/Blogger, Political Economy
  56. Chris Cunningham, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
  57. Richard Gearhart, Associate Professor, Economics, CSUB
  58. Marina Golivets, Halle, Germany, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research- UFZ
  59. Olena Nizalova, Associate Professor, University of Kent, United Kingdom
  60. Mats Marcusson, Sweden, Retired EC official
  61. Iryna Demko, Cleveland, Ohio
  62. Hakan Gergils, Senior Advisor Entrepreneurship Forum, Sweden
  63. Ilona Babenko, Associate Professor, Finance
  64. Ekkehard Ernst, Geneva
  65. Sergey Sarkisyan, PhD Candidate, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania 
  66. Jerzy (Jurek) Konieczny, Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada
  67. Margaryta Klymak
  68. Olena Havrylchyk, Professor, University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
  69. Oleksandra Moskalenko, Visiting Professor, LSE, UK; Professor at the Kyiv National Economic University, Ukraine
  70. Xavier Jaravel, Associate Professor, London School of Economics
  71. Barbara Wien, Washington D.C. American University
  72. Olena Ogrokhina, Associate Professor, Lafayette College, USA
  73. Shiyam Galyon, writer 
  74. Alberto Bisin, New York City, NYU
  75. Matthew Holian, San Jose State University
  76. Ilze Vilka, Latvia
  77. Fabrizio Bresciani, Rome, Italy
  78. Tetyana Antoshchenko, Tulane University, New Orleans
  79. Mariya Sakharova, PhD Student in Economics, Aix-Marseille University
  80. Suzanne Chang, New Orleans, Tulane University
  81. Tamara Krawchenko, University of Victoria, BC, Canada
  82. Samuel Toman, MA, Humboldt University, Berlin
  83. Cory Rakowski, Edmonton Alberta Canada
  84. Anastasiia Klimash
  85. Tom Lynch, professor emeritus, University of Nebraska, Co-founder of American Peace Test
  86. Vincent Artman, University of Delaware 
  87. Wojciech Kopczuk, Columbia University
  88. Michelle Sura, Ogden Dunes, Indiana, USA
  89. Adam Rachinsky humanitarian volunteer in Ukraine 
  90. Sandra Bauer, Ottawa, Canada
  91. Andrii Terekhov, Assoc.Prof., B. Verkin ILTPE of NASU, Kharkiv, Ukraine 
  92. Howie Hawkins, New York, 2020 U.S. Green Party presidential candidate
  93. David Finkel, managing editor, AGAINST THE CURRENT
  94. Joseph Cirincione, National Security Analyst and Author
  95. Carmen Carvalho, Lisboa, Portugal 
  96. Dr. Stacey Butters
  97. Thomas Harrison, New York
  98. Robert Fraser, Principal, 3 Ravens Consulting 
  99. Dayne Goodwin, Salt Lake City
  100. Rick Sprout / Endicott NY / Green Party 
  101. Moshe Hazan, Melbourne/Australia, Monash University
  102. Andy Berman, Veterans for Ukraine Peace
  103. Elvira Bilokon, Tulane University / NSC KIPT, Ukraine
  104. Valeriia Bilokon, Tulane University/ NSC KIPT, Ukraine
  105. Roger Lippman, Seattle. Editor, Nuclear Free Northwest
  106. Kurt Haumesser 
  107. John Spitzberg, Anchorage, Alaska, Veterans For Peace Life Member
  108. Rumen Pasev, Sofia, Bulgaria
  109. Danilo Guaitoli, New York University
  110. Philip Gasper, Professor Emeritus, Notre Dame de Namur University
  111. Ron Chan, University of Manchester
  112. Laura Solanko, Helsinki, Finland
  113. Daniel Spiro, Associate Professor Economics, Uppsala University, Sweden
  114. Jacques Cremer, Toulouse School of Economics
  115. Anders Åslund, Washington, DC, Stockholm Free World Forum
  116. Susan Gillespie
  117. Tetyana Lokot, Associate Professor, Dublin City University, Ireland
  118. Dr. Nadiya Mankovska, Economic Consultant, DIW ECON @DIW Berlin, Germany
  119. Matthias Reiter-Pázmándy, Wien, Austria
  120. Adam Hochschild, writer
  121. Linda Lipps, Mng. Dir. Educational Support Programs, SSU, retired
  122. Iryna Lukiienko, Kharkiv, Ukraine
  123. Dmitriy Sergeyev, Bocconi University
  124. Anna Bilous, Cambridge, UK
  125. Cheryl Zuur, former president AFSCME Local 444, Oakland, CA
  126. Richard J Sklader, VRC, Retired. Minneapolis, Minn. 
  127. John Reimann, Oakland Socialist, Oakland, CA
  128. Colin Rowat, Tokyo
  129. Lones Smith, David Blackwell Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin
  130. John Feffer, director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies
  131. Mishel Ghassibe, CREi, Barcelona School of Economics
  132. Jeffrey D. Everhard, USA
  133. Megan Buskey, writer, New York City
  134. Ivy Cezanski, Ukraine Solidarity Network
  135. Peter Hudis, professor, Oakhurst College
  136. Lauren Langman, Chicago, Loyola University
  137. Ashley Smith, Tempest Collective
  138. Lawrence Murphy, Hayward, California
  139. Brian Gibbons, Fairview, Ohio
  140. Frank Rogaczewski, Berwyn, IL, USA
  141. Joseph Grosso, NYC
  142. Victoria Gendler, New Jersey
  143. Leonid Gutman,  New Jersey
  144. Walter Daum, CCNY Math Dept, retired
  145. Stephen R. Shalom, Professor Emeritus, William Paterson University
  146. Kent Jewell, University of Washington;  Great March for Global Nuclear Disarmament
  147. Alex Gendler, writer, New York City
  148. Frank Panzarella, New Haven CT
  149. Timothy Close, retired firefighter
  150. Patrick Kearney, Guilford, Connecticut
  151. Michael Donnelly, Northern California, ThisSmallPlanet.com
  152. Charles Post, City University of New York
  153. Samuel R Friedman, New Jersey. Research Professor, NYU Grossman School of Medicine 
  154. Bill Fletcher, Jr., National Writers Union--for identification only
  155. Janet Lynne Golden, Professor Emerita
  156. Rachel Kreier, Associate Professor of Health Economics, Patchogue, NY, St. Joseph's University
  157. Mary Anglin, UK Dept of Anthropology, retired
  158. Rael Slavensky,  Geneseo, IL, retired 
  159. Jack Ringand, Masters of Public Health student, Tucson, Arizona
  160. Nuria Homedes, Texas
  161. Bob Casanta 
  162. Van Gosse, Professor of History, Franklin & Marshall College
  163. Lawrence Wittner, Professor of History Emeritus, SUNY/Albany
  164. Eric Poulos, New York, New York
  165. Joshua DeVries, Austin Texas, DSA
  166. William Smaldone, Salem OR, Willamette University
  167. David McCullough, Atlanta DSA
  168. Barbara Smith, Black Feminist Author and Activist 
  169. Christopher Lyons, Maine, State Director of CTE, retired
  170. Bill Balderston, Oakland Education Association
  171. Aaron Amaral, NYC, Tempest Collective 
  172. Johanna Brenner, Professor Emerita, Portland State University
  173. Carl Mirra, Editorial Board, Theoretical and Methodological Problems of Children and Youth Education/journal of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv)
  174. Susan DuBois, Albany, NY, USA
  175. Terry Burke, Committee in Solidarity with the People of Syria 
  176. Doug Barnes, Seattle, Freedom Socialist Party
  177. Andriy Bodnaruk, Professor, Associate Dean, University of Illinois at Chicago
  178. Oxana Shevel, Associate Professor of Political Science, Tufts University 
  179. Mart Kuldkepp, Professor of Estonian and Nordic History, University College London
  180. Achmed Schüle, Dr.-Ing., Berlin
  181. Nick Reeves 
  182. Colin Turbett, Scotland, Author
  183. Alisa Slaughter, Professor, Creative Writing, University of Redlands
  184. Steve Ongerth, Richmond CA; co-founder, IWW Eco Union Caucus and member of the Ukraine Socialist Solidarity Network
  185. Kataryna Wolczuk, Associate Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House, London
  186. Maximilian Westenthanner, M.Eng., Germany
  187. Claire Chambers
  188. Michael Hill, San Diego, CA, USA
  189. Dr. Svitlana Romanko, founder and director Razom We Stand
  190. Sam Veremchuk, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, PhD Student
  191. Daniel Rosenberg, Adelphi University
  192. Jason Schulman, New York City
  193. Kit Wainer, retired member, United Federation of Teachers
  194. Dianne Feeley, Detroit, MI, Against the Current
  195. Julie Ward, Member Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament
  196. Elena Zehr, scientist 
  197. Joshua Frank, CounterPunch
  198. Linda Helfert, Retired Teacher
  199. Maurice Arcadier, Law Firm Arcadier, Biggie and Wood
  200. Charles Pierson, Long Island NY
  201. Carol Carlson
  202. Joan McKiernan, New York City 
  203. Leigh Smith, Brooklyn, NY
  204. Elly Leary, UAW, Bargaining Chair (Ret)
  205. Fabio Ghironi, Seattle, USA, University of Washington
  206. Chai Montgomery, Ann Arbor, MI, Solidarity/Tempest Collective/Transport Workers Union
  207. Jeffrey Elder, Arlington, VA
  208. Erik van Keulen
  209. Audie Chason, Hawaii
  210. NIna Sakun
  211. Gabriel Hermelin, Sweden
  212. Tereza Hendl, University of Augsburg and the LMU of Munich
  213. Steve Palmer
  214. Göran Olsson, Göteborg, Sweden
  215. Tomislav Patarčić 
  216. Ivan Alekseichuk, The United Kingdom
  217. Aliide Naylor
  218. Yoko Fujimaki, Yokohama, Japan 
  219. Javier Saborido, Jerez, Spain
  220. Marcello Graziano, Senior Researcher, Norway, Ruralis
  221. Giovanni Caggiano, Italy, University of Padova 
  222. Paul Feldman, web editor Real Democracy Movement
  223. Stefan Keel, Switzerland
  224. Francis P. Glosser, Ph.D.
  225. Raphael Goujet, France
  226. Steven Rabinowitz, behavioral health consultant, White. Plains, NY
  227. Honorable Anton Konev, Former City Councilman, City of Albany, NY
  228. Dietmar Pichler, Disinfo-Analyst, Vienna, Austria
  229. Swati Birla, SUNY-New Paltz
  230. Travis Bennett, Canada, Canadian Alliance of Socialists for Ukraine
  231. Hans-Werner Kienitz, Hamburg, Germany
  232. Michael Moore, Belfast, Emeritus Professor of Finance, University of Warwick
  233. Taras Stefanyszyn
  234. Aleksandr Krapivkin, NYC, KLYCH 
  235. Katrina Schaffner, AZ
  236. Olya Yarychkivska, RAZOM, NY, USA
  237. Oleg Gorenko, WA
  238. Igor Martiniouk, Vassar College, Student, Photojournalist
  239. Nazar Nemy, NY 
  240. Virginia MacFadyen
  241. Mary Killian, Berlin - Ver.di, For the Right to Resist, Linke Ukraine-Solidarität Berlin, diverse
  242. Solomiya Koziy, New York, CUNY Baruch College
  243. Roswell Wendel, Poughkeepsie, student
  244. Lera Loeb, filmmaker, NYC
  245. Martin Andersen, Greensboro North Carolina 
  246. Aaron Schwartz, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania
  247. Fazlur Rahmat, Pendidikan Sosialis Indonesia, Indonesia
  248. Chris Ekstedt, 2016 Sanders Delegate, High Point, NC
  249. Ayan Kaidarov 
  250. Thomas Mansheim, Prof. Emeritus, St. Peter’s Univ., Jersey City, NJ.
  251. Ignacy Jóźwiak, University of Warsaw, Poland
  252. Aragorn Eloff, lecturer in philosophy and critical media studies, North West University, South Africa
  253. Jerry Mead-Lucero, Labor Express Radio, Inland Empire DSA
  254. Franklin Dmitryev, Chicago, IL, News and Letters Committees
  255. Eric Doherty, Victoria BC Canada
  256. Michael Lebell, Local Family, Goleta, CA
  257. Marg Hall, lifelong peace activist
  258. Luisa Tacchini
  259. China Reichert, NYC, MS Nutrition and Public Health, RDN
  260. Bradley Mayer, California, Ukraine Socialist Solidarity Campaign
  261. Andy Dark, London UK, retired firefighter and trade union official
  262. Emma Calcutt SOAS Development Studies
  263. Nelli Martinou, Athens, Greece
  264. Torgeir Ådland, Norway
  265. Natalie Kopytko 
  266. Sacha Ismail, on behalf of Ukraine Solidarity Campaign (UK) 
  267. Roman Sokhan, Ukraine
  268. Johannes Rohr, Voice of Belarus, Germany
  269. Monique L. Koller, California 

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