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No Need to Negotiate?
Before this post, a quick reminder that you can buy a lovely Peace of Westphalia mug as a last-minute Christmas present. Apparently, I have been labouring under the misconception that peace is better than war, and negotiations are the best way to peace. I have found articles in the past month arguing the contrary position, …
Mediation and Russia-Ukraine
In spite of some recent talk of resuming negotiations, there doesn’t appear to be any serious attempt to mediate peace at present. Zelenskyy declared negotiations impossible after the Russian annexations in September, while Putin refuses to negotiate until the U.S. recognizes Russia’s conquests. This is a classic problem in beginning talks: one or both sides …
Mediation and Westphalia
The Thirty Years’ War lasted for over a generation, but not for lack of attempts to end it. Several parties volunteered to mediate an end to the fighting soon after Sweden’s invasion in 1630, and continued to do so until the Treaty of Hamburg (1641) set the terms for the Congress of Westphalia. Most of …
Mediation at Westphalia and Russia-Ukraine
After a previous post about the need for mediation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, I thought it would be appropriate for an historical lesson on mediation at the Congress of Westphalia — which was, in a way, one of the most mediated conferences ever. But first, let’s step back and talk about mediation in general. Mediation, …
“How to End a War”
This title, taken from an article at Euractiv, seems appropriate after our last post about ending the Russia-Ukraine war. It is actually more interesting that just another take, however, because it proposes an alternate solution that I hadn’t considered: what if the war just peters out and never has a formal end? The article points …
“How does the Russo-Ukrainian War end?”
The title is a quotation of a title taken from substack. I like it because it helps to focus on the thing that most people don’t seem to be debating, which is how we’re going to get out of this war. The author, Timothy Snyder, suggests that the war may end with a power struggle …
Two Articles on Putin’s Approach to the War
“Why Vladimir Putin Would Use Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine” (The New Yorker) is a disturbing but, I think, convincing argument that Westerners are fooling ourselves with arguments why Putin would not use nuclear weapons. It includes disturbing information, such as the fact that Russian television keeps repeating Putin’s nuclear threats, or this quotation: “We are …
Peace of Westphalia in the news, 9/2022
Our first entry today is a simple notice about a photo prize competition, the German Peace Prize for Photography. This was apparently added in 2019 as an additional category to the Felix Schoeller Photo Award competition, drawing on the fact that Felix Schoeller is from Osnabrück, and Osnabrück is associated with the Peace of Westphalia. …
Once More on Nuclear War
Today I read an article called “In the Shadow of the Mushroom Cloud” on Quillette about the threat of nuclear war. The article does a very sensible thing in comparing our current danger to the Cuban Missile Crisis, probably the time our world came the closest to a nuclear exchange. (Every time I read about …
Peace of Westphalia Day
This is a special day for those of us here at peaceofwestphalia.org, because it is the 374th anniversary of the signing of the treaties of Munster and Osnabruck that make up the Peace of Westphalia. I celebrated, as I always do, by making a Mazarin torte. It is an excellent opportunity to pick up a …