“Ukraine must not lose the war” – the philosopher agrees with this sentence. Nevertheless, with regard to arms deliveries, he warns not to lose sight of the resulting responsibility.
With regard to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the philosopher Jürgen Habermas spoke out in favor of negotiations. The West is providing military aid to Ukraine for good reasons, the 93-year-old wrote in a guest article for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
But with that comes responsibility. “From the perspective of victory at all costs, the increase in the quality of our arms supplies has developed a momentum of its own that could, more or less unnoticed, propel us beyond the threshold of a third world war,” he warned.
In the meantime, critical voices have emerged, urging reflection on the difficult path to negotiations. “If I join these voices, it is precisely because the sentence is correct: Ukraine must not lose the war,” wrote Habermas, who acknowledged that there are currently no signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin will engage in negotiations .
According to Habermas, the core problem is unclear objectives
He is concerned with the preventive nature of timely negotiations. These prevented a long war from claiming even more human lives and destruction – “and in the end confronting us with a hopeless choice: either actively intervene in the war or, in order not to trigger World War I among nuclear-armed powers, leave Ukraine to its fate .”
Habermas called it a core problem of the debate that the goals of Ukraine and its supporters are unclear. “Is it the aim of our arms deliveries that Ukraine must “not lose” the war, or are they not aimed at a “victory” over Russia?”
The philosopher had already urged prudence last April in a highly acclaimed guest article for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
Source: Stern
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