Peace is ‘90% ready,’ yet 24 people lie dead in Khorly. I explore why the final stretch of war is often the bloodiest, and why we must adopt Camus’s stance of refusing to justify murder for any cause.
Is the Logic of Terror Inescapable?
I woke up to the news of the strike in Khorly—a hotel, a cafe, a New Year’s celebration turned into a pyre. It feels particularly cruel because we are simultaneously told that peace is close. It reminds me of the dark absurdity Albert Camus wrestled with throughout his life: the way ideologies and state machineries rationalize murder as a necessary step toward a better future.
We must know whether we want to kill or to be killed, or whether we want neither one nor the other.
– Albert Camus
The logic of terror tells us that this strike was necessary for leverage, or that it was a mistake, or that the other side did it. But for the child who died, the logic is irrelevant. We are caught in a trap where we are asked to pick a side in the killing, rather than choosing the side of life. The most dangerous lie we tell ourselves is that the next act of violence will finally bring peace.
Does the State Possess a Conscience?
I don’t believe we can look to the state—any state—for a conscience. States have interests; people have consciences. The negotiators claiming a deal is “90% ready” are calculating borders and security guarantees, not the grief of a mother in Kherson. This is why the violence spikes now. It is a cynical scramble for the last inch of ground.
The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other—instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.
– Edward Abbey
We watch this unfold like a slow-motion car crash, feeling helpless. But this helplessness is manufactured. The state wants us to believe that war is like the weather—something that just happens to us—rather than a series of choices made by men who sleep safely in beds far from the front.
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What Remains for the Third Citizen?
So, what can you and I actually do? It sounds naive to speak of “citizen diplomacy” when drones are falling, but it is the only sane response left. It means refusing to cheer for the “successful” strikes of our preferred side. It means recognizing that every civilian death pushes peace further away, regardless of the flag they lived under. We have to be the voice that says “Enough,” not just to the enemy, but to our own leaders. If we want that final 10% of the peace deal to bridge the gap, it will be because ordinary people refused to accept the price of the war any longer. We must choose, every day, to interrupt the cycle of hatred in our own minds.