On December 12, 2023, Turkmenistan celebrated the 28th anniversary of its neutrality. Since the UN General Assembly adopted a special resolution on Turkmenistan’s Permanent Neutrality in 1995, the principle has become a key feature of Ashgabat’s foreign policy, squaring several geopolitical circles for the young state. A geopolitically difficult position.
Morality and international politics do not mix easily. For good reason. War is the distinguishing trait of relations among states. And war is all about killing and maiming other human beings. Of course, war is episodic rather than continuous. But the ubiquity of conflict situations remains the hallmark of inter-state relations. Violence is omnipresent – in mind if not in act.
A group of engaged citizens in Switzerland has started the process for a political initiative with the goal of writing a definition of the country’s signature foreign policy into its constitution. If the initiative is signed by 100’000 eligible voters by May 2024, this will lead to a mandatory referendum in a few years time….
Morality and international politics do not mix easily. For good reason. War is the distinguishing trait of relations among states. And war is all about killing and maiming other human beings. Of course, war is episodic rather than continuous. But the ubiquity of conflict situations remains the hallmark of inter-state relations. Violence is omnipresent – in mind if not in act.
Europe has an obsession about Jews. For nearly 2 millennia, it hated them and persecuted them. Now, after a respite of a few decades, it condemns and abuses Muslims in a similar way – all in the name of supporting Jews. Israel’s inhuman treatment of the Palestinians – culminating in their massacre and mass eviction from Gaza – leaves Europeans unmoved.
The Swedish feminist and peace activist Agnese Hellström recently published a book about her struggle to advocate for peace in times of high emotions and relentless propaganda in the West. While the book does not yet exist in English (only in Swedish), here is the abstract by the author. Stay tuned for an online interview…
The multilayered tragedy unfolding in Israel/Palestine has us all transfixed. But not inert. Our emotions and minds are roiled in an effort to make sense of what happened, what is happening at the moment and what the chain of repercussions will be. A deliberate thinking through of this maelstrom requires a rare discipline that is…
Introduction The United States is being defeated in Ukraine. One could say that it is facing defeat – or, more starkly, that it is staring defeat in the face. Neither formulation is appropriate, though. The U.S. doesn’t look reality squarely in the eye. We prefer to look at the world through the distorted lenses of…
By Friedrich Glasl. Differences among actors can escalate to social conflicts if self-regulation gets lost by strong emotions. Affects determine all psychic functions and the behavior of the parties of the conflict. And a destructive attitude and “logic” emerges, the “logic of war”, which intensifies the escalation. The principles of the “logic of war” and the principles of the “logic of peace” are explained in order to de-escalate a conflict if one follows the “logic of peace”. One can use a “window of opportunity” to do the first steps which may lead to peace processes.
By Asoka Bandarage. Sri Lanka has been faced with an unprecedented political and economic crisis since the beginning of 2022. The dominant narrative attributes the crisis to the confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict, China’s ‘debt trap diplomacy’ and – most importantly – the corruption and mismanagement of the ruling Rajapaksa family. Western mainstream media celebrated the so-called aragalaya (struggle, in Sinhala) protest movement that led to the ouster of the Rajapaksas and upholds the IMF bail-out as the only solution to the dire economic situation.
