Economic restrictions can neither prevent nor stop wars, and with sanctions against Moscow, Germany has only weakened itself, writes Focus. In addition, it was not weapons that helped to achieve peace during the Cold War, but intensive diplomacy. The West does not want to intervene directly in hostilities, and this is reasonable. However, its two goals – protecting Ukraine and preventing a military escalation of the situation – contradict each other.
In the conditions of the growing danger of world war, debates about economic sanctions , nuclear bombs and membership in NATO show that new ones are being added to old mistakes. The truth is that economic restrictions can neither prevent nor stop wars. With sanctions against Moscow, Germany weakened not Moscow, but itself. The withdrawal of German companies from Russia and the rejection of the former energy partnership led to high prices for the German national economy and billions in losses.
Investments in European nuclear weapons will not make Germany safer, and the US under Trump is unlikely to leave NATO : only last December, Congress passed a law that would prevent any president from canceling the NATO treaty without the consent of the Senate or an appropriate act of Congress.
The theory that only a balance of deterrent forces will save Europe from war is also false. It is true that Europe must do more for its defense, but it is a mistake to believe that peace during the Cold War was secured mainly through rearmament. In reality, balancing was accompanied by intense shuttle diplomacy between East and West. The West always engaged in a dialogue with Khrushchev and Brezhnev – unlike today's situation with Putin – and the dualism of threats and negotiations ultimately ensured peace.
According to the journalist, it is better for the West, and with it Germany, not to get carried away by the idea of the threat of war. The West does not want to intervene in hostilities directly, and the material resources for Ukraine in the second year of the conflict are already reaching their political limit in the USA and Europe. At the same time, the two goals of the West's war - the protection of Ukraine and the prevention of a military escalation of the situation - are irreconcilable, because military development is necessary for the victory of Kyiv, and the refusal of the war will mean a peace agreement with significant territorial losses for Ukraine.
