Category: Diplomacy

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War – Power – Power-play – Power-balance or: No Time for Denying the Obvious

Image of a cloud in the sky at dusk, with sunlight behind it.
Image by lmaresz from Pixabay

War is no destiny. War is not dealt us by any type of gods to check our resilience or our heroism.
War is man-made by those that crave power, want to protect it or even more so,  protect the money involved.

Conflicts are a natural part of human life. Wars are not.

The present power blocks we see are not really new. New is the leader-of-state-type the US have engaged to do their dirty work:
Someone who likes it, who already is starting to prepare his ultimate leadership as dictator, king or emperor and someone also, who uses threats and fear as means to ‘make deals’. He has publicly admitted, nay, praised himself that: A ‘deal-maker’.

At present the most urgent need many see and have is ensuring peace.

To deny the obvious, namely that the maps we can see make Ukraine an encroachment onto Russian territory, if they should join the NATO, is childish.

Image of NATO member states and installations around East of Europe, including Ukraine and its border with Russia.
Image screenshot of NATO’s own website, all options checked. Taken at: 23-11-2025_05-50-47 local time (UTC+1)

Ukraine is a country with people, a history and pride.
But they also are people who want to live, to have peace, to stop seeing their cities and villages go up in flames. Bury their dead and weep each and every day over their lost loved ones.

Even more so, Palestine and the Palestinians, same way the majority of Israeli people do!

The majority of Israelis publicly declares even on Social Media such as LinkedIn their lack of support for the politics Netanyahu has applied from the start:

He was known as so-called hardliner from day one.
He had made the situation for Palestinians impossible for them by forcefully moving Israeli settlers there. Gaza-strip and the West Bank had been assigned to Palestinians to live in peace. To this day the official acknowledgement of Palestine as a state is not complete.

Additionally, it is recorded fact that his support in parliament and from voters was waning. So he started a war.

Attacking again under any pretext? Shame on him.

Peace needs to be negotiated, when we want to stop wars. Sometimes that can take time. But to deny the obvious or to refuse to negotiate properly is a sign of ulterior motives.

War needs to stop.

This is the simple truth:
Whatever your colour, creed or conviction, you are not supposed to either kill, torture or bother other people. Period.

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War and Peace: Patriarchy in Full Swing – When the Image of ‘The Man’ and Apparent History Get in the Way of Reason

‘A real man’, ‘a hulk’, ‘the hero’, ‘the fighter’ – the words and phrases are numerous, sometimes there seems no end to the ideas of what men should be like.

“Always cool, calm and collected.” “Women and children, the sick and the elderly to be saved first.”

What does that do to men’s minds? To some, at least, raised with the full brunt of this concept?

That a man is to be powerful, reigns the creation, the earth, and everything in it – including women.

‘His woman’. ‘His wife’.

For centuries that was understood: A woman is her father’s and later her husband’s ‘ward’, in modern terms that was in effect the legal ruling. She did not own anything, even when she worked or inherited money.

Comfort. A fine word. It evokes all kinds of images if we come to think of it. And men so long had to be the providers. Providers of food, shelter and – comfort.

Because, this indeed can be too much: Because, indeed, this is not human!

Every human being feels lonely at times, yearns for closeness, warmth and comfort.

But men are supposed to feel and be always superhuman? Strong, knowledgeable? The last resort?

It’s not possible to always feel that way. But when no one tells them so – how would they know?

And sick minds can be born by the almost schizophrenic concept: Be kind, understanding and calm. But also be brutal and a fighter and always in control of the situation.

Schizophrenia is associated with sickness. But at the outset it means a ‘divided brain’. Thinking and feeling are at odds. And if that cannot be resolved, we find cruelty and (near) madness in deeds and – online activities…

Let’s remember that war is just a phenomenon based on this image. Based on the idea of sovereignty and wealth being the most important and most attractive traits in a man.

These are images, concepts and they are not human. We do not need images. We need human beings in this world.

War is no solution. War is not destiny. War is not inevitable. War is not in our nature.

Conflicts are. But they can be solved if we really want to.

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The Cruelty of War as a Means to an End or: How Diplomacy, Human Conflict Patterns, and War are Related

Screenshot of NATO member states, current, taken at 21-01-2025_06-16-46 at https://www.nato-pa.int/content/membership-map

Yet once more Russia attacks Ukraine. Ukraine will answer in time… The news are often just a short glimmer of the actual blunt truth behind it all:

Just as in everyday conflicts, very often war is about power, about position, about prestige, about reputation – and about money as well.

What makes it a pattern too, is the way the opponents treat each other in frontline ‘reports’: It’s always the other party that is to be blamed. It’s always the others that didn’t make enough allowances or offered the real bargain to finally reach a truce.
And eventually an agreement to be observed by all.

Does anyone remember how this first got started? The idea had been that NATO after WWII would not extend into the East of Europe beyond a certain realm. In order to let the actual feeling of danger or threats be allayed in regard to Russia.

I still have to think of that little story I made up the other day about that situation:

A man lives in his house by himself, calmly attending to his (rather turbulent) internal affairs.
One day he opens the door and finds a huge, smiling hulk of a yet young, blonde, clean-shaven man with close-cropped haircut standing there – kindly looking at him, feet on his porch, legs wide, chewing gum – holding a machine gun. Telling him, with a broad smile that the man need not worry: He and his mates were just having a good time of it, doing nothing. Just brought their guns and tanks too…

Seriously, looking at maps, what would you think…?

There is no question about Russia’s internal affairs, i.e. its president Putin, being a cruel leader and dictator internally.

But this conflict did not start 3 years ago. It started long before that. And as long as greed and selfishness on all sides won’t make room for real negotiations, this will go on…

So, start getting down to brass tacks, d…arn it!

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When Politicians Start Behaving Like Immature Boys in a Sandbox: USA, Ukraine, Russia and the ‘Pride’ of Males

When men start ‘impressing’… (Images licensed via Adobe CC)

When you look at children playing they already repeat the sometimes age-old patterns of the patriarchal societies we live in: “When you start touching my sandcastle, I’ll kick yours…!”

“Why? Because…!”

It’s that thing about boasting, bragging and hitting the chest, just as apes do…

Whenever in history was it helpful or really effective to use threats of war? Usually it will just end in war!

How ridiculous can you get these days? Especially someone like Trump, who was raised in a place that calls itself a military school, not to say an academy, West Point…

I beg your pardon, ‘dude’, but if you didn’t get what tactics should have taught you, you are wrong for that job anyway!

Do you really and truly believe that you will get Putin to relent this way?

Or is this one step into yet another ‘deal’ to sell more weapons?

That is Putin and Trump, as per precedence (s.a. 2016 elections, where Putin had them manipulated in favour of Trump)* getting together behind the scenes – and having a ‘ball’ at our expense…?

Well, there’s a thought: Do not buy into their wars.
This strange entity called Trump is known for and even proud of making ‘deals’ that way: He creates a background of scares and fear and threats – and then tries to move in. But then, apparently he suffers from ADHD anyway…

Unfortunately Putin in Russia for reasons of his own would not be where he is today if he was ‘got’ that easily – assuming that what we see in front of cameras is not just a …

Big stage performance…

 

*Note: Since then the Washington Post has been acquired by Jeff Bezos, founder of amazon and has become completely unreliable.

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Emily Dickinson: “Hope is the Thing with Feathers…”

Image of two feathery birds singing and looking at spectator, each inside a vignette, illustrating the poem
Images licensed via Adobe CC, my graphics
254

“Hope” is the thing with feathers–
That perches in the soul–
And sings the tune without the words–
And never stops–at all–

And sweetest–in the Gale–is heard–
And sore must be the storm–
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm–

I’ve heard it in the chillest land–
And on the strangest Sea–
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb–of Me.

Emily Dickinson

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Migration, ‘Illegal Aliens’ and the War: ‘Desparate Times’ Call for Desparate Measures? – Ridiculous Right-wing Cover-ups

Image by HazarMan from Pixabay

There they all are: Gathering speed and momentum: “Illegal aliens”, “migrants” are being blamed for difficulties. It’s an age-old argument, and just as ridiculous and stupid as the ‘war effort’ and its ‘necessities’: Kill people into the bargain? Just because you crave money, power and attention of the wealthy circles…?

The patterns are there, in history, for everyone to look up.

There is a new effort at getting Trump to leave, an impeachment, perhaps… I wonder how long it will take until those blind wealthy idiots start to realize who it is that keeps them wealthy: Exactly those ‘illegal aliens’, among others, they now so furiously kick out of the country.

Millions to spend on that programme – send them out?

When so many of those ‘migrants’ work hard and thus provide revenue and profits, make more businesses that actually employ more people…?

Who else really makes the money? Managers? They so often start the problems, because while getting millions of severance payments the ‘little folk’ are left in the ‘clear’…

So, quickly covering up, blaming the wrong ones; making more war, because that not only sells weapons you then produce more of, employing people that way.

In the meantime you send the ‘little people’ to the front, to get killed. Cannon fodder. Right?
Yes, right-wing politics. Covering it up: The scandals and the mismanagement.

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Put the Pressure On… – The USA and the Selling of Weapons… “Money, Money, Money”…

Why would you try and negotiate properly…? As the present president Trump has already got them almost where he wants them: With threats and scare tactics regarding tariffs and weapon deliveries, especially to refuse proper negotiations with the opponent, Putin, he has pressured the NATO and the EU into practically crawling at his feet…including Ukraine.

It’s unbelievable, to think that a region like the EU – or, just as much the NATO – lets itself being blackmailed by someone like Trump into basically ‘jumping through hoops’ at his command…the ‘wonderful’ summit the other day with NATO leaders, him included was the perfect stage to ‘butter him up’.

Who knows, he will probably one day manage to do to the US what Putin is doing to Russia: Make it a dictatorship. The Supreme Court Justices already do his bidding as well…

What a spectacle…

When it’s so obvious that the US are just as dependent on others as others are on them…

What would he be without the NATO – or the EU – or Russia, especially?

Is that all?

Of course, it’s been put into so many words ever since mankind has started to use money instead of exchanging goods…

Contrary to the song’s (apparent) message above, I am proud enough to rather starve than to make myself depend on anyone rich… but, not everyone is the same.
Mr Trump apparently depends on his money to buy and bully himself the respect and attention he craves sooo much…

The song really is pure sarcasm, of course…

When you look at research at the time, and contacts in between, between Trump and Putin, that is – when you look at the articles of the New York Times – since sadly the Washington Post has been acquired already by Jeff Bezos, amazon founder, and is not dependable anymore – it seems rather obvious: The rich and wealthy (the oligarchs* behind people such as Putin) are starting to divide it between them: The oil, the gas – and ultimate profits, namely those by war and weapons.

One thing is true too: When you’ve bombed them back into the stone age you can waltz in later and again make money on repairs and rebuilding…

Who cares? I do. Still.

The Swedish pop group ABBA put it into these apt words in 1976, rather revealing, really…

* “oligarchy, government by the few, especially despotic power exercised by a small and privileged group for corrupt or selfish purposes. Oligarchies in which members of the ruling group are wealthy or exercise their power through their wealth are known as plutocracies.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online)

* Oligarch: “one of the people in an oligarchy (= a government or society controlled by a small group of very powerful people)” (Cambridge Dictionary Online)

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Thinking it Through from the End – Or: Where Do You Want to Go? – Or: Nothing in This Life Worth Having Comes Easy…

Collage of four images that show a person traveling, a finish and a start line and a pin pricked into a map someplace
Images licensed via Adobe CC

The principle is as old as mankind itself: When you want to get somewhere, you need to know two things, basically: Your finish line – and your starting point.

PEACE is some goal…

When it is a problem to be solved it is important to not just get a hazy idea of some problem or issue… a clear idea of the true problem is vital. Since, trying to find a solution without the clearly identified problem is pointless and a waste of time.

In other words: To get a clear picture of reasons for people doing something – or a system failing, you would look into history: Because it can help to find similar situations you can learn from.

And: Nothing in this life worth having comes easy…but that’s no reason to despair, but: “Keep at it – and remember about the breaks.”

We have come quite some way, in general!

In the past, people for centuries actually found it a great pastime to visit public torture and public hangings!
That has stopped.
In most countries around the world the death penalty has been abolished!

The most simple principle in that respect I have mentioned too, already:
Whatever you colour, creed, or conviction, you are not supposed to either kill, torture or bother other people. Period.

So, again, our goal as societies that have learned a thing or two about communities and responsibility – most, if not all of us yearn for peace: For peaceful coexistence. For more mutual understanding.

People in power these days once more seem, at the moment at least, have begun to realize that they are not just powerful for their own fun – or into the bargain; but that they carry the responsibility for exactly that kind of thing with them, each and every day:

    • Keep the goal, the ultimate finish line, in focus.
    • Start thinking it through from the end.
    • Get proper counselling.

Remember that you are not alone on this planet and that your ‘powerful’ existence as such would be pretty pointless without all the others around….

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Pressure, Pride, Dignity, IAEA, USA and Iran: Diplomacy and Negotiations follow Rules – ‘Learn How to Ask for It…’

Image of a peacock proudly presenting his tail feathers
Image by Julia Grabowska from Pixabay

Since the dawn of time, one might say, diplomacy and negotiations follow rules. Iran and its people have every reason to be proud of a culture that is thousands of years old. Painting, drawing, poetry, music, hand-knotted carpets renowned throughout the world, cuisine…you name it: Wherever you look, it is refined and unique.

In addition the culture and tradition also make for certain rules of behaviour in terms of dignity and pride to be observed when negotiating. At least the more experienced generations of diplomats in the West might still know about them. Many were well-known for centuries over here too.

Recent foreign politics initiated by a person called Trump who is president of the USA again, introduced his favourite way of ‘making deals’: Put the pressure on, bully, scare, and get what you want in the end.

Mr Trump never was one for subtleties, not really well-known for tact or refinement – so far.

I actually wrote to the office of the president a while ago. Perhaps they will care to talk to proper counsellers yet.

One thing is for sure: Iran is well aware of the achievements of its culture and history. They have self-confidence enough to value their dignity. They will not stoop to pressure or scare tactics.

“Weapons of mass destruction” – that was the phrase and apparent reason former president Bush used at the time to attack Iraq; where oil also exists in abundance…oil, yes. That kind of weapons, so it turned out: no.

The contracts with Iran had been there! Uranium enrichment control had been negotiated among others with the former president Barrack Obama, over a decade, actually. Trump cancelled them. Do we call that a ‘smart move’…?

If all of the people and organizations concerned are really interested in getting anywhere with this, start treating Iran as a country and equal opponent. Stop treating them like a wayward child.

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