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Jürgen Habermas on the war in the Ukraine: support for Olaf Scholz' deliberative attitude

2022-04-29T10:35:47.612Z


Probably Germany's most prominent intellectual has spoken out about the war in Ukraine. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Jürgen Habermas criticizes the federal government's "morally indignant prosecutors".


Enlarge image

Political philosopher Habermas (at a speech in 2018)

Photo: Arne Immanuel Bänsch / picture alliance / dpa

In a guest article for the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (Friday edition), the philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas commented on the discussion about the German reaction to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

On the one hand, the 92-year-old sees "the morally indignant prosecutors" who are demanding greater support for Ukraine, including with heavy weapons.

And on the other hand, "a reflective and cautious federal government," according to Habermas, which does not want to become a party to the war against the background of Russia's nuclear threat potential.

According to Habermas, the decision not to become a party to the war was morally well founded, but the West had tied its hands with it.

He sees the Western states in the dilemma of having learned from the Cold War that a war with nuclear weapons "can no longer be 'won' in any reasonable sense". entry into the war on the side of the Ukraine could use NBC weapons, could not enter.

The problem, however, is that Putin decides "when the West crosses the threshold defined under international law, beyond which he

formally

regards military support for Ukraine as the West's entry into the war."

The risk of a world conflagration leaves "no leeway for risky poker".

"Shrill battle of opinions fueled by press voices"

On the other hand, the West "cannot allow itself to

be

blackmailed at will." Leaving the Ukraine to its fate would be "not only a scandal from a political and moral point of view, it would also not be in one's own interest."

After all, it would be expected that the constellation could be repeated in Georgia or the Republic of Moldova - "and who would be next?" said Habermas.

That's why he doesn't contradict support for Ukraine “

up to the point of immediate involvement”

– i.e. up to direct participation.

In this constellation, Habermas welcomes the fact that Chancellor Olaf Scholz insists on a "politically responsible and factually comprehensively informed assessment".

But the latter sees himself confronted with a “shrill battle of opinions fueled by press voices about the type and extent of military aid for the beleaguered Ukraine”.

The Ukrainian President, "who is familiar with the power of images," ensures impressive messages.

Habermas describes Volodymyr Zelenskyj's video-transmitted speech as "moral calls for order" to the Bundestag.

"Political misjudgments and the wrong course set by previous federal governments" are "quickly converted into moral blackmail" by the Ukrainian side.

According to Habermas, who was born in 1929, the "impetuously moralizing urge of the Ukrainian leadership, determined to win" and the "completely new reality of the war" had "snatched young people out of their pacifist illusions".

In this context, he expressly mentions "the Foreign Minister who has become an icon" who gave authentic expression to the shock.

Putin's concerns about the political protest

Habermas was irritated by the “self-confidence” of those who wanted to keep driving the chancellor forward with “short-cut demands”.

Her "warmongering rhetoric" doesn't go well with the spectator box from which she sounds eloquent."

In addition, concentrating on Putin as a person leads "to wild speculation, which our leading media spread today as it did in the heyday of speculative Sovietology."

On the other hand, Habermas points out that "an end to the war, or at least an armistice, must be negotiated" with Putin.

He sees his "concern about the political protest in the progressively more liberal-thinking circles in his own society" as a motivating factor for the actions of the Russian President.

As a "constructive way out of our dilemma", Jürgen Habermas sees a cautious formulation of what the goal of the actions of the western states could be, namely "that the Ukraine must not lose the war".

Feb

Source: spiegel

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