After Hamas’ brutal attack against Israel, which resulted in many dead and wounded civilians, the most important and urgent task of today is ending Hamas’ rule of Gaza, where the terrorist organization holds the Palestinian population hostage. But the question that must be answered next – if not in parallel to the military action – is how to prevent the next war between Israel and either Hamas or whoever may succeed it. Significantly, this can only be achieved if the basic rights of all people living in Israel and Palestine are secure. This should be obvious to all observers, but unfortunately many simply defend Israel in its war against Hamas without considering how future aggression from Gaza can be avoided. 

On October 29th one hundred years ago, the Turkish Republic was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk was a strong military leader, a reformer and modernizer, and a staunch supporter of women’s rights – but he was not a real democrat. His followers – especially within Turkey’s armed forces –  repeatedly interrupted the country’s democratic development over the century since its establishment. While critics today bemoan Turkish Present President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s undermining of democracy, one must recognize that he has many predecessors among the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the generals of the Turkish Army. 

In der letzten Zeit wurde die Weltöffentlichkeit von furchtbaren Entwicklungen überrascht, obwohl sie absehbar waren. Immer wieder glauben wir Konflikte einfrieren zu können, um sie einer späteren Lösung zuzuführen. Allerdings kaum sind sie eingefroren wird auf Lösungsanstrengungen vergessen oder sie werden nur halbherzig verfolgt. Und dann wundern sich Politiker*innen und Medien, dass die Konflikte von damals wieder ausbrechen, die Wunden neuerlich aufbrechen. Weder die Rückeroberung von Nagorno Karabach, noch die jüngst aufflammenden Konflikte im Kosovo, noch die abscheulichen Attacken der Hamas konnten ernst zu nehmende politische Beobachter überraschen. Nur das Ausmaß der neuerlich aufgebrochenen Konflikte konnte überraschen.

During the recent visit of an IIP delegation to the South Caucasus, I asked a civil society representative to describe Georgia in a few words. She answered: “Georgia is a small country in the South Caucasus, which wants to leave the Russian orbit and become part of the civilized world.” This description provides a concise summary of my impressions after two days of intensive discussions in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi. According to our interlocutors, today’s Georgia must decide between a backward-looking orientation based on the old Russian model and a forward-looking orientation toward a more Western modernity.

At their most recent meeting in South Africa, the countries of the BRICS bloc – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – committed themselves to an expansion. They announced that a diverse group of countries composed of Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been invited to join as new members. Notably, three of these countries are energy-rich Middle Eastern states (Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE). They are energy-rich in the traditional, hydrocarbon sense, but at least Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also trying to build out their sustainable energy capacities and modernize their energy infrastructure. In the meantime, they aim to sell as much gas and oil as possible. In that sense, this enlargement is certainly a strengthening of the BRICS – at least as long as oil and gas play an important role in the world’s energy supply. Nonetheless, the BRICS states have underlined their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and active climate policies. In order to achieve these goals, they will require the sustained support and cooperation of the West.