Stop Powerplays, Halt War Danger
The Executive Committee of DIE LINKE party at its meeting on March 22, 2014, unanimously adopted the following statement on the situation in the Ukraine and the Crimea:
With deep concern we are observing developments in the Ukraine and the Crimea. We condemn the military threats of the Russian Federation, the Ukrainian government, and NATO. The answer to the separation of the Crimea by the Russian Federation which is contrary to international law and which we condemn must lie in diplomacy. War cannot solve problems and must not be an instrument of politics, even less a hundred years after the beginning of World War I, in a country which was inflicted untold suffering by World War II and the aggressive war by Nazi Germany.
Security in Europe must be civilian security including Russia. Even more: the unification of Europe necessarily includes Russia.
The Ukraine illustrates the fact that the unabandoned logic of cold war, the notion of dominance most evident in NATO's eastward enlargement is poison for the further peaceful development of the continent. In this each side has to do its homework to break with the idea of hegemony and make headway towards real cooperation and the strengthening of international law, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe, the dissolution of NATO and its replacement by a collective security system in Europe which includes Russia. The West now faces the consequences of its actions in Kosovo and other instances contravening international law. It, obviously, is not guided by international law but by its interests – the same as Putin, the man whom it now accuses of breaching international law. DIE LINKE is the party championing international law which has to be valid in all directions without ifs and buts and must not continue to degenerate into mere rhetoric.
Sanctions are the wrong answer to the infringements upon international law by Russia. We need the courage for a positive political approach – away from confrontation, towards a genuine perspective of security for all of Europe.
The interior situation in the Ukraine reflects a social division which began with the long history of this young nation state and has kept aggravating against the background of the failure of the political elites of all colours, the tremendous influence of the oligarchs and the extreme social polarization in the country. This multitude of problems was ignored by Moscow, Brussels and Berlin: the fragile country was confronted with the situation of having to decide between a customs union with Russia or an association agreement with the EU which now threatens to split the country and involves a real war danger. This replacement of a possible OSCE mission by one of the EU in the Ukraine is a disservice to de-escalation. The EU is not neutral in this conflict.
The ensuing war danger has been further aggravated by the continued mobilization of Russian troops at the Ukrainian border. At present the division of the Ukraine is deepening further: The new, unconstitutionally established government has no potential of integration and represents only one part of the population. The participation of fascists in the new government who are not refraining from terrorizing journalists and offices of different-minded parties, in the words of former Commissioner for EU Enlargement, Günter Verheugen, constitutes “a fatal breach of taboos“ because “for the first time in this century völkisch ideologists, real fascists“ are admitted to a government. We call on the Federal Government and the EU not to tolerate any longer the participation of fascist forces in the government. The signing of the political chapter of the association agreement is a wrong signal: in this way the Ukrainian transitional government will be encouraged to just continue in the same way. We are opposed to the neo-liberal EU association agreement: The policy of the EU vis-a-vis the Ukraine is not borne by the spirit of cooperation – on the contrary, the Ukraine has become a geopolitical option which is evident from the military chapters of the EU association agreement. There is another reason for our extremely critical view of the support the EU and Germany have extended to the new government: the Fatherland Party represents the old incrusted and corrupt political style the end of which is longed for by the Ukrainians. People in the Ukraine need the chance of a truly new beginning. This implies gearing any possible economic aid to improving the desolate social situation.