Western arms deliveries and sanctions are not moral, but stupid

For responsible politicians here is only one option: peace negotiations

by Jürgen Todenhöfer*

(29 July 2022) Actions are moral – liberally based on Immanuel Kant – when a righteous person thinks they should apply to the whole world. How are the arms deliveries to Ukraine to be assessed under this aspect?

Well, if NATO had to supply weapons to all states invaded in violation of international law on moral grounds from now on, there would be war all over the world.

We would then have to send tanks to the invaded Yemen, just as we would have to send tanks to Taiwan if it were soon to be attacked by China. We would also ultimately have had to provide military support to Iraq when the U.S. invaded it on the basis of a lie. And what about Palestine?

A strategy that leads to more war in the world cannot be moral.

Our arms deliveries to Ukraine, which are of little military use but could prolong the conflict and lead to the threat of a world war with possible nuclear weapons deployments, are therefore immoral.

And what about our Russia sanctions? How morally correct are they?

The answer here is even easier: they hurt us more than Russia, which earns billions more than before due to skyrocketing gas prices – despite reduced exports. Sanctions in which the one sanctioning ruins himself for years while the one sanctioned benefits economically cannot be moral.

They are simply utterly stupid. Following Kant, I cannot declare so much suicidal stupidity to be the moral duty of the whole world.

Because of the sanctions, we are heading for the worst economic crisis in post war history. It will primarily affect the low-income strata of the population. They will starve and freeze in the coming winter and lose their meagre savings, while our so-called moral German politicians, of all things, have now increased their salaries by more than two-thirds of the Hartz IV standard rate.

So much self-destructive and shameless stupidity cannot be moral.

So the question is: Is there a way out of the moral maze? Yes, there is. We must help Ukraine on a political-diplomatic basis. Through smart peace negotiations.

Are these difficult? Yes! Are they promising? Maybe, maybe not.

But the difficulty of negotiations does not give us the right to gamble away world peace and the hard-earned prosperity of our people. In other words: although Russia’s Ukraine war is undoubtedly illegal under international law, we should stop our sanctions and arms deliveries.

Because they are immoral and stupid.

For responsible politicians, there is only one legitimate option: peace negotiations.

Continuing the current sanctions and arms supply strategy will lead Europe into chaos.

*    Jürgen Todenhöfer, *1940, German politician (formerly CDU, since 2020: Team Todenhöfer), journalist and former media manager. A doctor of law, he was a CDU member of the Bundestag from 1972 to 1990. From 1980 onwards, he was one of the best-known German supporters of the mujahideen and their guerrilla warfare against the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. From 1987 to 2008, he worked as a member of the board of the Burda media group. Since the beginning of the 2000s, Todenhöfer has been involved in opposing the US military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has published several books and numerous contributions. Todenhöfer has been visiting the world's crisis areas for decades and describes bluntly the conditions he encounters and their background.

Source: https://weltwoche.ch/daily/westlichen-waffenlieferungen-und-sanktionen-sind-nicht-moralisch-sondern-dumm-fuer-verantwortungsbewusste-politiker-gibt-es-nur-eine-option-friedensverhandlungen, 17 July 2022

(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)