A Russian delegation, including the five legislators from the Duma who met yesterday with U.S. legislators, were given a tour today of the Institute of Peace and of the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, as indicated by pictures posted by their host, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL). While a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department had said that Federal officials would meet today at the Institute of Peace, not with the Russian legislators, but with officials of the Russian Federation (assumedly counterparts of the U.S. officials), no news on that planned meeting was available at the time of this report.
One of the U.S. representatives, Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), called on Washington to calm down and recognize that it was time for peace. His statement referenced his three years of military service, “working to counter Russian- and Iranian-aligned threats across Europe,” and added: “If I can come to the table in pursuit of peace, then everyone can... The time for killing must end, and the only path to peace is through dialogue or overwhelming force—and we are not going to war with Russia.” Aside from Luna and Van Orden, the other legislators who met with the Russian delegation yesterday were Eli Crane (R-AZ), Andy Ogles (R-TN) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX).
The media coverage has focused on what can only be called decorticated reactions from the war lobby. Perhaps the two winners are Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), who found the tour of Statuary Hall to have “opened the doors to a massive #security threat to the Speaker, to our Congress, and to democracy itself,” and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) stated: “I compare this meeting on Capitol Hill as having a visit by the Third Reich.”
