Join Together

The US-Russian Citizens Summit ended the inertia that prevents the American and Russian people from joining in the bonds of friendship. It is our collective responsibility to sustain this momentum.

This is the biggest band you'll find

It's as deep as it is wide

Come on and join together with the band

Pete Townshend

It has been more than a month since a group of Americans, enamored by the prospects of a more peaceful world, came together with a group of like-minded Russians to participate in a Citizens Summit, resuscitating a format first undertaken some 40 years prior, when Phil Donahue and Vladimir Pozner, the leading television journalists of their times from their respective nations, organized the famous “Space Bridge” that brought together American and Russian audiences from Seattle, Washington and the Leningrad.

The 2025 edition of the “Space Bridge” didn’t have big names drawn from popular mass media at the top of the marquee. Instead, it was hosted by two more grounded individuals; me, out of Kingston, New York, and Pavel Balobanov, in Saint Petersburg (formerly known as Leningrad.)

But the reality is, the US-Russian Citizens Summit could have been hosted in any American city or town, and any Russian city or town, and by any American or Russian citizen.

The issue of peaceful relations between our two nations is not resident in any specific geographic location or individual but is rather a reality that links us all. Likewise, the questions asked by the participants, and answers provided, were reflective of a universal desire on the part of US and Russian citizens alike to peacefully coexist with one another.

There can be no escaping the reality of the times we live in, and the harm that has been done to the issue of mutual trust by the actions of our respective governments. To be certain, the burden of guilt in this regard rests almost exclusively with the US government and, by extension, the American people who, through their Russophobic-influenced passivity, have empowered the anti-Russian policies of their government which have, over the course of the past several decades, resulted in anything other than a friendly posture toward the Russian Federation and the Russian people.

The challenge that faces everyone who seeks better relations between the US and Russia is how to overcome the societal inertia which has gripped America when it comes to furthering better relations with Russia, and in doing so generate momentum that moves us toward the kind of peaceful coexistence that we all yearn for.

However, as the saying goes, it takes two to tango.

When an individual or collective has been gripped by the paralysis of imagination, they often need a helping hand to push and/or pull them along to generate the momentum necessary to propel them forward, toward the desired direction and destination. While it is the duty and responsibility of the American people to break free of the ideological chains, forged from the links of Russophobia, that have bound us for decades, we will need the assistance of our Russian counterparts to offer a helping hand to pull us out of the quagmire of propaganda-fueled intellectual quicksand.

It is here that the Russian people face their greatest challenge. After decades of betrayal and abuse at the hands of the American nation, where Russia itself was treated as a second-class status to be belittled and mocked by Americans, after the ultimate betrayal of the 1990’s where the United States led the way to seek to break Russia up in an effort to permanently dissipate the power and potential of the Russian nation, and at a time when the United States government continues to pursue policies designed to achieve the strategic defeat of Russia—that is, the political, economic and societal collapse of the Russian Federation—one would be hard pressed to make a viable case that there is anything for Russia to gain by seeking the betterment of relations with the American people.

The reality, however, is that if the Russian people fall back on the human tendency to reject those who reject them, then we are collectively doomed to follow a path that will lead only to our collective demise.

What the US-Russia Citizens Summit demonstrated, more than anything, is that we have not yet passed the point of no return when it comes to creating a cause of peace and understanding that can bring our two nations together.

The Kingston audience was ready and willing to shake off the Russophobic bindings that had constrained America for so long.

And the Saint Petersburg audience was ready to receive the hand of friendship and return the gesture with gusto.

We have a window of opportunity to act collectively to move both nations forward toward peace and prosperity, and away from conflict and chaos.

But this window will not—indeed, cannot—remain open indefinitely with out a concerted effort on the part of all parties involved. The forces of history conspire to shut it.

We must make our own history.

The day of being a silent observer is over. We cannot afford the luxury of non-action.

Yes, the Kingston-Saint Petersburg US-Russian Citizens Summit made history.

But it is but one chapter of a volume that has yet to be written.

The first stanza of a song that has yet to be sung.

As The Who famously sang,

It's the singer, not the song

That makes the music move along

I want you to join together with the band

It has been over two years since I embarked on my Waging Peace journey. This journey was cut short last year because of policies on the part of the US Government designed to intimidate people into silence, and then to weaponize this silence by promoting a false narrative about Russian actions to undermine American democracy.

It has been little more than a year since I had my passport revoked to prevent my travel to Russia, and almost a year since I had my home raided by the FBI to negate my voice.

And yet, here I still stand. Unbowed and unbroken, I am as committed today to the cause of bettering relations between the US and Russia as I was before the US Government sought to erase me as a participant in this peace effort.

Even more so, since now I know the extent to which the forces that support an sustain conflict will go to achieve their goals and objectives.

The Waging Peace project is alive and well, and I am looking forward to resuming the journey that had only temporarily been put on hold.

This renewed journey began in Kingston, on June 18, when Pavel Balobanov and I, together with an intrepid crowd of Americans and Russians, came together in a US-Russian Citizens Summit. This summit serves as the anchor for additional projects designed to further US-Russian relations.

This is our common cause, our common journey.

Join me.

Join Together.