Matthias Linnemann

Dear friends of peace,

At our first meeting with MSC Director Ambassador Christoph Heusgen in March 2022, it became clear that he – especially as a former representative of Germany on the UN Security Council – is greatly concerned with the norms of international law and a value-oriented international policy.

Richard David Precht addresses the question of how a value-led foreign policy can be effective in his current book “Century of Tolerance.” He joins the appeals of scientists that preventing climate catastrophe must become the main topic of politics so that people can still lead a life worth living on Earth in the 22nd century. This requires a joint effort by humanity, which is existentially necessary. We can no longer afford another century of escalation, armaments, and world wars! It would be the end of human life.

Precht questions the claims of a “systemic rivalry” between the West and China and the “struggle of democracies against autocracies.” He points out how easily we fall into friend-enemy thinking – us, the good guys, against the evil others – and how selectively we evaluate autocratic regimes, depending on whether they cooperate with us, the West. And Precht emphasizes how little the preaching of “Western values” can convince, especially in the Global South, when this West itself has so often not adhered to these norms – and does not adhere to them! All too often, the West pretends to have values where it is really about its own interests. Instead, a look at the common value foundation of cultures – e.g. “Global Ethos” according to Hans Küng – and global cooperation on an equal footing would be necessary.

I believe that with his theses – only touched upon here – Precht could make an important contribution on the stage of the MSC next February. I would like to inform Mr. Heusgen of this during our online meeting next week.

What do you think of this proposal?

Sincerely,

Thomas Mohr
Chairman Project Group “Changing the Munich Security Conference” e.V.
Chairman gewaltfrei grün e.V.

Dear friends of peace,

“World Without a Compass” is the title of the new Peace Report (FGA) by the four leading peace research institutes. That, at least, appears to be a very accurate analysis.

It is certainly correct and important to note that the year 2023 recorded a sad record in wars and conflicts, an insane peak of 2.4 trillion dollars in worldwide armaments spending, and was also the climatologically hottest year to date.

Not enough: On Europe’s doorstep, two senseless, murderous wars are raging in Ukraine and Gaza, in which we are also involved.

In this situation, shouldn’t peace research provide a clear impetus for an end to violence, an indispensable, clear guide to peace that requires a radical departure from the previous logic of war? Because violence, hatred, and rearmament only ever provoke a spiral of new violence?

Instead, the report’s recommendations state: “To enable negotiations in the war in Ukraine, military support for Ukraine must be sustainably guaranteed and increased.” And since the USA is expected to reduce its support, the demand is: “Europe must compensate for this decline, and that also means it must rapidly increase its armaments capacities.”

This reflects the same military security thinking that has been proclaimed for years at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) by the leading representatives of highly armed states. Its head, Christoph Heusgen, sets the tone: “We must return to a certain logic, as we had in the Cold War,” and he believes he must urge Western states to “expand their military support for Ukraine,” stating that the West must “go all out” with its military aid.

This fits into the general political and societal war hysteria of a so-called “Zeitenwende” (turning point). Sociologist Andreas Reckwitz sees in this an “increasing friend-foe thinking,” “everywhere there is a new culture of mercilessness.”

Should we still uphold our earlier demand to prominently discuss the FGA’s recommendations at the MSC? Or is it precisely now that we should?

What do you think about this? We look forward to hearing your views!

With peaceful regards
Erwin Schelbert
Founding Member of MSKverändern e.V.
Study Group for Peace Research

Dear peace activists,

“A highly armed army, ever more isolation and surveillance, does not provide more security for Israel. That is the lesson of the terrible terror of October 7,” according to an ARD commentary from October 25, 2023.

The Combatants for Peace, former fighters from Israel and Palestine, state: “As part of this centuries-old violent conflict, we know its price and futility. More than ever in the past, we assert today: There is no military solution to the conflict; violence begets violence; revenge fuels revenge.”

Gideon Levy of the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz expressed this in the Tagesthemen interview on November 7, 2023: “There is only a perspective for the future if the international community turns to Israel and the Palestinians to say, ‘Enough is enough. Now is the time for a solution.’ You need something that is fundamentally just for the Palestinians as well. Otherwise, we will never be safe.”

Russia is also currently failing with its war in Ukraine due to its military security logic. However, Ukraine and NATO have also failed to ensure lasting security through further expansion of NATO.

However, we can learn from the experiences in the Middle East, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Mali, as well as from positive experiences in Kenya, Somalia and elsewhere.

Germany should use its power for the sustainable overcoming of the spirals of trauma and violence through joint security structures – in the Middle East in the form of a Conference for Security and Cooperation in the Middle East (KSZMNO).

As the Rethinking Security initiative, we have published these and other impulses “Rethinking Security Structures” in a current paper, which can be found on our homepage sicherheitneudenken.de.

We look forward to your approval and/or your suggestions: Do you also think that these impulses would enrich the MSC? Please send an email to vorstand@mskveraendern.de

With warm greetings,

Ralf Becker

Coordinator of the Rethinking Security Initiative