Some personal thoughts on the Russo-Ukrainian war

In the following, I have summarised a few of my theses and opinions on the currently raging war in Ukraine.

I guess we all don’t understand what is happening at all anymore and are watching it with a lot of emotions. Be it anger, sadness, despair or speechlessness. I think that being emotional in such a situation is more than valid – however, we should not lose our rational perspective. Right now, I am especially watching the development of security policies, as well as our “information culture” (e. g. media outlets reporting on the situation and context, the rapid spread of news on social media) with great concerns. Both are just evolving into a development that seems overly emotion-driven. In doing so, we will neglect a critical perspective, the ability to question circumstances, and in some respects, may become historically revisionist.

Disclaimer: As a leftist, I am against war by nature. Another disclaimer: This list is not complete and I will add additional theses and thoughts as they come into my mind.

  • Europe was never in peace but always involved in war. Be it Yugoslavia, Georgia or Armenia. We should remember, that the Nagorno-Karabakh war happened only a year ago, in November 2020.
  • One can and must condemn this war of Russia and not side with NATO in it. Sadly, many do this automatically, as they think it would be a dichotomous situation where you have to side with one of them, which it is not the case.
    • This standpoint is far from unrealistic as it can be seen in the situation Rojava is in. A state which fights against the aggression of Turkey, a NATO member state, and the russian toleration of Turkeys actions.
  • The NATO is not an alliance of peace, international law, and democracy. Turkey is a dying, corrupt democracy, which occupies Northern Cyprus since 1974, and participates in systematic, racist oppression of Kurds in its own country, and committing war crimes against
  • The very structure of NATO is designed to ensure U.S. hegemony.
  • The things happening in Ukraine are not only a tension between two countries, but also as a struggle for supremacy between NATO and Russia. That means: This is rather a conflict between the US and Russia on a metalevel, and Ukraine is more of a victim of this sad development.
  • No matter which state the weapons are provided to, they will kill civilians, not political leaders.
  • One can condemn the invasion of Ukraine, without idolising politicians (On a side note: Zelensky contributed to a multi-billion-dollar fraud concerning offshore properties in London).

The entire discussion on militarisation is built around nothing but lies.

  • Wolfgang M. Schmitt: “The great lie does not work anymore. All the time, politicians claimed, that there would be no money for investments for infrastructure, climate protection, unemployment benefits for job seekers, culture, education, young people. Now, they pull €100 billion out of the hat. Money was never scarce.” (Original tweet in German)
  • The discussion on armament uses the current situation as a bad excuse. A perfectly equiped Bundeswehr had not been able to help Ukraine. The arms race would have never stopped wars (looking at you, WW1 and WW2). The withdrawal of international arms control agreements did not bring peace. And the constant fortification between east and west only brought us into the current situation.
  • Instead to support engagements of a ceasefire, the German decision to provide weaponry to Ukraine was accompanied by cheering or stilly public.