The former editor-in-chief of the “Tribune de Genève” and Grand Councillor of the Canton of Geneva Guy Mettan published a very readable article in the Weltwoche of 1 October 2022 entitled “Europe betrays its values”. The subtitle concretises: “Peace, democracy, human rights, environmental protection: In the fight against Russia, we sacrifice everything we hold sacred” (see article "Europe betrays its values")
The Western power elites’ disregard for European and universal values has, it must be added, been a problem for a long time. However, time and again people have found ways to counter this. The international working group “Mut zur Ethik”1, which I am part of, was founded almost 30 years ago and is one of many examples. If you look more closely, the disregard for European and universal values has actually been going on ever since there has been such a thing as the “West”. Only in between, for example after devastating catastrophes such as the Second World War, have larger parts of the Western power elites come to their senses for a while and tried to give politics a new face, one that is oriented towards principles of political ethics2.
But at the latest with the supposed “victory” in the first Cold War after 1990/91, Western power elites indeed spoke very loudly of their mission of values, but in reality, practised exactly the opposite.
No ethical foundations
The war that the Western power elites are waging against Russia therefore has – although this is precisely the core assertion of Western propaganda – no ethical foundations, but other causes and goals. One must always be aware of this: The Western power elites are not waging war against Russia so relentlessly because it is about defending European values, democracy or heroic virtues3. It is about something else.
That the Western power elites are waging war against Russia is obvious:
It is about more than the future of Ukraine
The question of why and for what purpose the Western power elites are doing all this, in my opinion, cannot stop at the borders of Ukraine. As understandable as the call for a ceasefire in Ukraine is – this call must not neglect the fact that there is so much more about it and that this war of the Western power elites will not be over even if the weapons in Ukraine cease.
I suggest reading again the speeches of the Russian president of the past 22 years up to his last detailed speech on 1 October 2022 and to examine them impartially for their degree of reality. It is possible that in this way one will find answers to the question of the why and the wherefore of the relentless war of the Western power elites against Russia. In these speeches, one learns that Russia is radically questioning the previous claim to power of the Western power elites: with his demand for equal security for Russia (as well as for all other states of the world), with his demand for respect for the foundations of the Charter of the United Nations, with his demand for an independent Russian way in questions of family, religion and nation, with his demand for a different world economy, with his demand for a different world financial system, with his criticism of Western imperialism and neo-colonialism.
How the war can end
The war of the Western power elites can be ended in various ways:
1 cf. Verein zur Förderung der Psychologischen Menschenkenntnis (ed.). Mut zur Ethik. Eine Besinnung auf gesellschaftliche Grundnormen und moralische Grundhaltung im Individuum (Reflection on basic social norms and basic moral attitudes in the individual). Volume on the first conference from 24 to 26 September 1993 in Bregenz, ISBN 3-906989-35-6 and in particular the principles adopted there on pages 543ff.
2 cf. as groundwork: Sutor, Bernhard. Politische Ethik Gesamtdarstellung auf der Basis der Christlichen Gesellschaftslehre (Political Ethics. Overall presentation on the basis of Christian social teaching), 1992 (2nd edition), ISBN 3-506-79090-0
3 The terms refer to the article by Guy Mettan in the Weltwoche of 1 October 2022 and in this journal.
4 Crudopf, Wenke. Russland-Stereotypen in der deutschen Medienberichterstattung. (Arbeitspapiere des Osteuropa Instituts der Freien Universität Berlin, Arbeitsschwerpunkt Politik, 29). Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, Osteuropa Institut, 2000, S. 42 (Russia stereotypes in German media coverage. Working Papers of the Institute for East European Studies of the Freie Universität Berlin, Focus on Politics, 29. Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, Institute for East European Studies, 2000, p. 42). Accessible through: https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/44025/ssoar-2000-crudopf-Russland-Stereotypen_in_der_deutschen_Medienberichterstattung.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&lnkname=ssoar-2000-crudopf-Russland-Stereotypen_in_der_deutschen_Medienberichterstattung.pdf
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