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Grave Escalation in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict: from “Grain Diplomacy” to an All-Out War

Five Questions to Prof. Dr. Hans Köchler

Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, Washington DC / Berlin

(10 October 2022) (Mark Donfried) This week President Vladimir Putin has made a public speech (in delay of one day) where he informed the world that Russia will now partially mobilize the reserve military forces and former soldiers to engage in the conflict in the Ukraine. At the same time, it was announced that a referendum would be made in several regions of the occupied Ukraine with the question if the citizens are asking to be annexed to the Russian Federation. With regards to that, President Vladimir Putin mentioned that the Russian Military Forces would protect Russian territory by all means available to them, implying that this would include also nuclear weapons. He added, it is not a bluff. The Former President Dmitry Medvedev reiterated this speech and repeated the threats. In regards to these serious developments, we would like to ask Prof. Dr. Hans Köchler* the following five questions:

Hypocrisy and “Tactical” Nukes

by William J. Astore*

(Datum) With Russia issuing warnings about using all weapons at its disposal to protect its position in Ukraine, it's a good time to talk about the distinction between “tactical” and “strategic” nuclear weapons.

Ukraine and the collapse of Western values

by Guy Mettan,* freelance journalist

(3 October 2022) Timothy Snyder, one of the most prominent academic representatives of the Western establishment, describes the stakes of the Ukraine war in the September issue of the American magazine Foreign Affairs.1

Mearsheimer’s analysis to the Ukraine war

“One can only hope that a catastrophic escalation will be avoided”

(3 October 2022) (rs) On 17 August, “Foreign Affairs” published an article by the renowned American political scientist John J. Mearsheimer, “Playing with Fire in Ukraine. The Underappreciated Risks of a Catastrophic Escalation”.1 In the USA, Mearsheimer is one of the weighty voices that have great influence on the public debate. This is not the only reason why we are summarising this essay here. In his analysis, Mearsheimer also does not spare the reader from the possible consequences of this war.

The long road to war in Ukraine

by Wolfgang Effenberger,* Germany

(28 September 2022) Wolfgang Ischinger, former US ambassador and chairman of the foundation board of the Munich Security Conference, published on 10 August 2022 in “Foreign Affairs”, the internal newsletter of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the article entitled “Germany’s Ukrainian Problem – Europe’s Largest Country Needs Time to Adjust to a Dangerous New World.”1
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

22nd meeting of the SCO in Samarkand, the “Jewel” of the Great Silk Road

Dispute between the presidents of China and Russia? – Just wishful thinking of Western mainstream media

by Georg Koch

(28 September 2022) On 15/16 September, the 22nd conference of the “Shanghai Cooperation Organisation” (SCO) took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It was held under the motto "Dialogue and Cooperation in an Interconnected World".