occasional reflections on culture & politics
Let’s just make one thing clear: What is happening in occupied Ukraine, what happened in 2014 in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, cannot be called referenda. They are fake. They are not elections. They are nothing but a performance of voting, but no actual voting is taking place. For an election or referendum or vote to… Continue reading #195: Fake “Referenda” Prove that Putin Doesn’t Want to Negotiate
Quite regularly, we can hear explanations about both foreign and domestic policy that rely on concepts about “the West.” It is rather commonplace to assume that the world is divided into different political camps that are influenced by different cultures. No other division is more popular than the distinction between those countries who are part… Continue reading #188: What Is “The West” Today? From “Civilization” to Cooperation
President Putin is working hard to weaken Russia. During the last decades, he has almost completely destroyed the last remnants of Russian democracy. Instead, he has built a system built on lies, repression and violence. Proudly, he announces that Russia is returning to old strength, that the Russian people are experts at suffering, and that… Continue reading #178: Russia Deserves Better
What a funny sight: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did fly to the G20 meeting, held some talks with country representatives that are less critical of Russia (in order to promote their own self-interest), and departed before being able to meet and listen to any of the critics. This, again, demonstrates that Russia has no… Continue reading #173: Putin and Lavrov Demonstrate the Weakness of Today’s Russia
It seems that virtually everybody agrees that sanctions are not working, and that we should reconsider as they obviously have not yet stopped the war against Ukraine. And it certainly is true that right now, Russia seems undeterred. But we need to look a little deeper and listen to what Russia is actually saying. Before… Continue reading #170: Sanctions Against Russia Are Working – And Need to Be Even Stronger
There are quite a few opinions out there who caution against unachievable war aims and urge both parties to negotiate some kind of settlement. The delivery of more and more weapons would, in this argument, lead to a prolonged conflict, and thus to more loss of life and destruction. In the end, both parties would… Continue reading #168: Why Must Ukraine Win?
You can hardly turn on the news today without being faced with manifestations of every possible disaster known to humankind: war, genocide, disease, famine, climate change, etc. Death and its precursors are all around us. How can you stay sane in such a world? How can we ever tolerate the presence of so much death… Continue reading #164: The Answer to Death is Life
Russia is complaining that the West is “prolonging” the war unnecessarily by helping Ukraine out with weaponry. This is quite outrageous – the aggressor, who in 2014 attacked an innocent country it was bound to protect (due to the Budapest Memorandum), stole part of its territory (Crimea and Donbas), and has now been waging an… Continue reading #160: Victim Blaming Par Excellence: Russia Complains About Those Helping Ukraine
There can be no doubt that Putin’s genocidal war against Ukraine needs to be stopped. Sanctions may be a tool to make the war too costly, but they will take time to work. We all know that. In recent days, we have seen that in addition to the official sanctions and denunciations of Putin and… Continue reading #154: Against Putin: Yes. Against Russia: No.
You may say that the United States has enough problems of its own. In recent decades, we have intervened in a variety of conflicts around the world, not all of them successfully resolved, not all of them widely deemed legitimate causes. We are facing plenty of challenges at home and on the global scale. Why… Continue reading #147: Why Should We Care About Ukraine? A Pragmatic Answer
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