Roger Waters Is Not Helping to Bring Peace to Ukraine

Former Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters spoke (via video) to the United Nations yesterday, calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. I agree with that message. And for whatever it’s worth, I’m a massive Pink Floyd fan. I wanted to love the speech.

But my heart sank when I heard Waters blandly refer to the “Russian Federation” while calling Ukraine’s government “the Kyiv Regime.” And the ugly and absurd fact hovering over his otherwise moving speech was that he was speaking at the invitation of Russia—the party that started the war in the first place.

As a matter of pragmatism, Roger Waters is doing peace advocates no favors. He’s just making it easier for western hawks to smear anyone who calls for de-escalation and diplomacy as a “Putin apologist.” And as a matter of morality, blurring the line between a genuine anti-war position and support for the Russian side of the conflict is a giant middle finger to the people who most deserve our support—the brave and persecuted anti-war movement within Russia itself.

Read more at The Daily Beast.