Peace Blog
The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the IIP.
Belgrad, Thessaloniki und Athen waren meine jüngsten Reiseziele. Und immer ging es um den Balkan - und seine mögliche (oder sichere ? ) - Zukunft in der Europäischen Union. Weder die EU noch der Balkan (Western Balkans) sind in bester Verfassung. Und die meisten Menschen und dazu zählen auch die PolitikerInnen haben andere Sorgen als über den Beitritt der Süd- und Osteuropäischen Länder nachzudenken.
No there is certainly not one truth, there never is. But in the case of Ukraine there are many truths and they are clearly expressed by different public and private personalities. The recent visit of our "Platform for Dialogue and Conflict Resolution in Ukraine" has proven the ambiguity of the situation in Ukraine again. The war in the eastern part of Ukraine and the occupation of the Crimea is always present. And that cannot be a surprise. For some it is an excuse not to touch other critical issues. Sometimes the lack of fundamental reforms and of a thorough fight against corruption is explained or even justified by the ongoing conflict with Russia and the separatists in the East. For others the war is the reason why issues of a modern society from feminism to human rights cannot be discussed in a proper way. This should be done when the war is over and especially when Ukraine has win this war - is the argument.
Das Wiener Nuklearabkommen mit dem Iran
Im Mai entscheidet der US-Präsident darüber, ob er das Wiener Nuklearabkommen, dass die fünf permanenten Mitglieder des UN-Sicherheitsrates und Deutschland mit dem Iran 2015 abgeschlossen haben (JCPOA), noch einmal verlängert, bevor er die Sanktionen wieder einführen will. Der israelische Ministerpräsident Netanjahu hat angekündigt, dass er schon wüsste, dass Trump das Abkommen nicht mehr bestätigen würde. Die Bestellung von John Bolton, der eine Bombardierung des Irans befürwortet, als nationaler Sicherheitsberater Trumps bestätigt diese Vermutung.
The Western Balkans remain an important part of EU politics. It is important not only to strengthen the ties between the EU and the region, but also to support the cooperation within the region itself. The Berlin process has a lot to contribute to that cooperation. It was good to include also the economic dimension, but one should not think only about the necessary infrastructure.
To speak about Africa and specifically about African migration is in danger of neglecting the many differences and the diversity of that huge continent and its – growing – population. Migration is not migration, there are many reasons and motivations for people, especially young people to decide to emigrate. Sometimes migration is based on individual decisions, sometimes it is a family decision to send the young abroad to gain remittances or to give the younger a chance he or she never would have at home. Some times migration decisions are taken in order to adapt to changed and detrimental environment, in other cases it has a transformative character. People want to shape their lives and improve their standard of living. In any case outside conditions are mostly intermingled with individual and family decisions. There are many factors and reasons, -young- people decide to take the risk of emigration.
The International Institute for Peace, already since many years, is cooperating with the Center for International and European Studies of the Kadir Has University in Istanbul on its annualy International Neighbourhood Symposium. This year it took place in Odessa / Ukraine because Istanbul unfortunately became rather unattractive due to its internal political situation since the coup d'etat in 2016 and because of the rise of terrorist activities and attacks. Another reason, however, was also to foster cooperation with other organisations in the region, this time with Ukraine Analytika and Ukrainian Prism, two organisations dealing with Ukranian Foreign Policy.
There is no doubt about the tense relations between EU and Russia and even more between NATO and Russia. There are many reasons for the deterioration of the respective relations. Unfortunately; the possible peace and cooperation dividend after the collapse of the Eastern Block and the Soviet Union has not been consumed. Too much has it been seen outside Russia as a victory of the "West", it's values, its economic system and its military force. Francis Fukuyama expressed it most clearly: we arrived at "The End of History". Even in Russia many agreed with that interpretation of history. But things developed differently.
Invited to a conference in Moscow called "Primakov Readings" organized by the Russian Think Tank IMEMO, I had the opprtunity to listen to numerous speakers from Russia but also from countries stretching from Japan, China and India via Europe to the US. The meeting was held in honour of a former Russian foreign minister who was one of the architects of the new foreign policy of Russia after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. He combined an attitude of international cooperation and of a strong representation of Russian interests in its immediate neighborhood but also globally. He became famous when, on the way to the US, invited by Vice-president Al Gore, he ordered the plane to return to Moscow after he was informed that the US and its allies would start bombing Serbia. This decision is used today for making clear, that Russia cannot and will not accept unilateral decisions and the global dominance by the US.
Connectivity is a very wide term which covers several kinds of - economic - connections. They may be bilateral, concern a region with similar characteristics, the connection to other regions important for the economic development and even global connections. Very often this connectivity is overlapping and can be of mutual support. And this can be found in the Western Balkans.
