This Easter we will hear everyone wishing peace for ๐บ๐ฆ. And while "peace" is the word that for us all symbolizes hope & a better future, something we don't have to explain, understand instantly, there are different forms of peace. So which peace are you talking of?๐งต 1/8
1) The Ukrainian peace. This peace has ๐ท๐บ withdraw from / being forced out of all Ukrainian territory (perhaps save some concession, ie. Crimea), ๐บ๐ฆ democracy survive & being guarantueed by own & others' military capabilities. For some it also means NATO and/or EU membership. 2/8
2) The continued "peace". This is a continuation of what Westerners called "peace" since 2014. Parts of Ukraine are occupied, annexed & russified by Russian troops (eg. incl. new territories), intensity of conflict is lower. ๐บ๐ฆ will be unable to become part of NATO or EU. 3/8
3) The NATO peace. All of Ukraine will be occupied and/or annexed by Russia and subsequently be russified. Ukrainian democracy & many of its supporters as well as civilians will be oppressed or die *during* this "peace". But ๐ท๐บ will stop short of attacking any NATO country. 4/8
In public discourse, everyone wants & works for peace but people rarely say which of these forms they are pursuing. That's unfortunate given that they are of very different quality and imply vastly different livelihoods for millions of people & death for thousands at least. 5/8
By not saying which peace we pursue, we hide the costs & benefits of peace behind our universal embrace of peace. Let's be more explicit: arguably most people who support #heavyweapons #energyembargo want achieve the Ukranian peace. Many opposing these measures likely think 6/8
the Ukrainian peace is unachievable bc ๐ท๐บ will be militarily invincible (eg. eventually use nukes). My impression is that many ๐ช๐บ governments (esp. ๐ฉ๐ช) pursue the continued "peace" bc it will cause least disruption for them from the status quo. I guess that many citizens 7/8
in the West think of the NATO peace when they talk about peace. For this Easter I wish that we all start talking about peace explicitly and not just use it as an empty word. We owe it to the Ukrainian people & we will likely take better decisions when being transparent ๐. 8/8
โข โข โข
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
ใ
