It should be a contribution to the debate. In a thesis paper, Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Transport, Hermann, reflects on the war in Ukraine. It is a massive criticism of Western politics, an accumulation of generalities and, to some extent, a relativization of the Russian approach.
The Baden-Württemberg Minister of Transport, Winfried Hermann, warns against a one-sided view of the role of Russia and the West. "The military conflicts and participation in wars of the past 30 years do not justify the image that only Russia, 'belligerent' and 'evil', repeatedly asserted its interests with military force," writes the Green politician in a thesis paper on the war. "In particular, the US interventions brought a lot of destruction instead of peace and democracy."
Since the end of the Soviet Union, Russia has waged brutal, illegal wars with proven war crimes in the supposed Russian zones of interest, such as Chechnya, Georgia and Syria, Hermann continued. However, the USA - supported by individual NATO states such as France, Great Britain and Germany - have "acted twice in Iraq, in Yugoslavia, Kosovo, in Afghanistan etc. in the same period with concentrated military force and sometimes also in violation of international law". intervened.
At the same time, Hermann criticized "missed opportunities for peace" since the end of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. The opportunity for a new "security architecture with arms control and disarmament, which also takes into account the interests of the former Soviet states and Russia" was wasted in favor of an eastward expansion of NATO.
Hermann is a pacifist and belongs to the left spectrum of the Greens. Politics, especially foreign and security policy, should not be primarily guided by emotions, the minister warned. He questioned whether western arms shipments would really end the war or prolong the violent conflict. He also questioned the meaning of the sanctions. "In the end, the peace treaty must also be concluded with the war opponent Russia, no matter what war crimes it has committed," he stressed. "That is the bitter, inescapable truth."
To get there, "a concept of de-escalation must be developed by the international community, even if it does not (yet) seem feasible: from a ceasefire to a ceasefire and a peace treaty." The United Nations in particular, but also China and India as well as the smaller, neutral states are particularly challenged. "Germany and NATO can initiate such a process, but as a party on the side of Ukraine they cannot be moderators of the process."
