Roger Waters writes a letter to Putin after the cancellation of his concerts in Poland

Earlier this week, sites in Krakow, Poland canceled scheduled Roger Waters concerts after the former Pink Floyd member made controversial comments accusing the Ukrainian government of having invaded their country through Russia.

In response to the dropped shows, the musician wrote a message on social media claiming that a councilor in Krakow had “threatened to hold a meeting asking the council to declare me ‘persona non grata’ because my public efforts to encourage everyone involved in the disastrous war in Ukraine, especially the governments of the United States United and Russia, to work towards a negotiated peace, rather than escalating to a bitter end that could be nuclear war and the end of all life on this planet.

Now, however, it appears to have damage control. On Monday, Waters shared an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to end the war with Ukraine, perhaps in a bid to clarify his position on the situation.

“First, would you like to see an end to this war? If you were to answer and say, ‘Yes please.’ It would immediately make things much easier,” he said. writes on facebook. “If you were to come out and say, ‘Furthermore, the Russian Federation has no other territorial interests beyond the security of the Russian-speaking populations of Crimea, Donetsk and Lubansk.’ That would help too. I say this because, I know people who think you want to invade all of Europe, starting with Poland and the rest of the Baltic States. If you do, fuck off, and we might as well stop playing the hopelessly dangerous game of nuclear chicken that hawks on both sides of the Atlantic seem so comfortable with, and get into it. . Yeah, blow yourself up and blow the world to pieces. The problem is, I have kids and grandkids, just like most of my siblings around the world, and none of us would like that outcome. So please, Mr. Putin, do me a favor and give us that assurance.

“Welcome back to the table, if I read your previous speeches correctly, you would like to negotiate a state of neutrality for a neighboring sovereign of Ukraine? Is that correct?” Waters continued. “Assuming such a peace could be negotiated, it would have to include an absolutely binding agreement never to invade anyone again. I know, I know, the United States and NATO invade other sovereign countries in no time, or for a few barrels of oil, but that doesn’t mean you should, your invasion of Ukraine m taken completely by surprise, it was a heinous war of aggression, provoked or not.

First of all, the idea that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was somehow “provoked” is outrageous, as is the idea that a dictator will read a note from a aging rock star who imagines himself to be some kind of geopolitical mastermind and change your mind. Do we really think anyone who would prefer draft farmers fight — threatening his own country’s crops and therefore his economy and his citizens’ access to food — than to admit that he made a huge mistake to invade Ukraine will suddenly decide to stop commit war crimes just because the guy who wrote “Another Brick in the Wall” asked him to?

Waters must know that there is no way Putin will be moved by his letter. It’s probably just an attempt to salvage the rest of his tour dates.