Peace in Ukraine

by Dr. Dieter Duhm, spokesperson of the Peace Research Center Tamera, Portugal

I am not at all writing this contribution with a pro-Russian attitude. I am writing it because a global crime is happening in Ukraine, which is a horrendous disgrace. Regardless of what may have happened, the transition government in Kiev has no right to fight the pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine with military means.

War is fundamentally no means for solving conflicts, for war always generates more war. We know this from history. But the injustice in this case goes even further because (with the exception of some riots that happened) the pro-Russian activists have actually not wanted anything more than to demand their civil rights.

For good reasons, the first soldiers sent to the east by Kiev have refused the war. They refused to shoot at their compatriots. One must imagine this situation. Young men receive the order from a government, which actually isn’t one, to shoot at mostly young people their own age without being given any understandable reason for this. This alone is an outrageous injustice.

Furthermore we have to ask with which right the transitional government in Kiev claims the east Ukrainian regions for themselves. From an historical perspective, Ukraine is not a real national state. The citizens in the east have little reason to feel part of a unified Ukrainian nation – the majority feels closer to Russia. To speak of breaching international law under these circumstances is a problem in itself. Lawyers would have a hard nut to crack if forced to find a clear answer to this. Even if it would be the case, would it then be justifiable to kill people due to the violation of law? Is the international law more important than human lives? Aside from this, what is actually the commitment of the West to international law? What happened in Iraq or Libya? It is a feigned righteousness beyond compare happening on the global stage.

The pro-Russian activists were insulted as separatists, or even terrorists, from the outset. The terror however was not carried out in the east, but in the west. The western Ukrainian government – in perfect alignment with the West – has by all means established such a vicious enemy stereotype that even the good-willed citizens in eastern Ukraine lost their last remaining pro-Western loyalty. This stereotypical enemy propaganda had to ultimately turn people who were friends into enemies. As soon as the first shots are fired there is an emotional polarization in the population. This has been atrociously amplified by the forty people killed in Odessa. There was war from that point on. The images that we occasionally see in videos show the human suffering that has been caused by these measures. A young dead salesgirl who was shot in the car. A weeping father whose daughter was killed. This is a war the whole world would rise up against if they were not hypnotized through the propaganda of the externally controlled media. In addition to what is happening Syria, this is the biggest disgrace I have experienced in the last weeks. And it is a crime carried out by the agreement of Europe, the United States and NATO. With joy I note that, in surveys, the majority of German citizens say that the West is committing foul play and that the media is simply fooling them. Even the former German chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, acknowledged his sympathy with the East.

No war can ever be won, for humaneness is lost in every war. Long meetings are now taking place in Washington, Brussels and Berlin over how the upcoming catastrophe could still be prevented. There is only one answer, and it is for the scoundrels in Kiev: Immediately withdraw all military units from eastern Ukraine and end the war!

In the name of a future without war.
In the name of all children.