Status: 03/02/2022 7:40 p.m
For decades everyone agreed that rearmament is the first step towards war. But suddenly some peace activists also accept arms deliveries. Experts believe that could change again soon.
In the past few days, German politics has undergone a series of about-faces and thrown things that were taken for granted overboard. When it comes to weapons, not even the Greens, who are actually pacifist, are currently critical.
A large majority of society also seems to support the 180-degree turn. In any case, protest observer and researcher Dieter Rucht did not notice any outrage at the large demos at the weekend about the arms deliveries and armament plans worth billions. “The colorful mix of demonstrators was striking. From young to old and even families with small children,” said Rucht. Classical slogans for peace, such as those around 2003 before the US invasion of Iraq, were only marginally used. The curved flag with the white dove of peace has had its day. Just like the old slogan “make peace without weapons”.
“It’s possibly a farewell to a world order,” says protest researcher Alexander Leistner from the University of Leipzig. “If the shock after these attacks subsides, a critical corrective will certainly speak up again,” says Leistner. But you are not there at the moment.
More taboos should fall
Even a far-reaching decision in recent years is being shaken up: in Germany there are calls for the reintroduction of conscription. Representatives of the SPD have also recently been open here.
Proposals for a peaceful solution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine are less loud. Ulrich Kühn, head of the arms control research department at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, calls it a “moral dilemma” in which the EU and Germany find themselves: “On the one hand, we see the crimes of Putin. You can do that just don’t look the other way or act like it has nothing to do with it,” he said tagesschau.de. “We must support the Ukrainians.”
Moral obligation
But you also have a moral obligation to think about how to proceed. “The conflict can escalate to a level where the Russian president feels so cornered that he considers the nuclear option,” said Kühn. He doesn’t think it’s acutely likely, but the danger is real.
“We will soon see a sharp increase in violence.” Kühn also warns that the situation in Ukraine will soon worsen. “Putin has not yet struck with the full force that he is capable of,” said the peace researcher. While there were initially targeted “surgical” strikes on individual civilian facilities that were intended to produce hardly any civilian casualties, the fighting in Kharkiv would already suggest a change of strategy on the part of Putin – a brutal one.
“Face Saving Solution”
The domestic political debate will soon have to deal with the uncomfortable question of “What then?” deal with. The expert makes it clear: “It is urgently necessary to look for a face-saving solution that can be offered to this despot.”
Even if this seems morally difficult at the moment, you cannot avoid this question. However, it may be harder to answer than quickly delivering new and deadly weapons to a war zone.