Tag: Ukraine
Off Ramp for Ukraine
In this clip, Rand Paul asks a state department official (no name given in the clip) about whether the State Department has a plan for an “off ramp” for Ukraine support. This is similar to concerns about an “exit plan” for U.S. intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, something everyone thought we should obviously have once …
Good News in Ukraine
There hasn’t been much news about the Ukraine war for the last 6-9 months, as it appears to have fallen into a stalemate and the summer offensives have achieved little. The good news is that this has finally inspired Ukraine’s supporters to begin urging the country to consider negotiations. The best outcome for this war …
Peace of Westphalia in the News, February 2023, Continued
Most mentions of Westphalia that I come across relate to sovereignty, and do so in a deductive way that is hardly worthy of discussion. An article in Telos, on the other hand, is much more thoughtful. I’m not sure if it’s right, but it definitely has caused me to stop and think about it. The …
Peace of Westphalia in the News, February 2023, ContinuedRead More
Peace of Westphalia in the News, February 2023
Finally I get to present three news items that definitely relate to the Peace of Westphalia, if only indirectly (as opposed to most of the alerts that I get, which are about articles that mention Westphalia once as the origin of the nation state and then go on to talk about other things). First, we …
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 …
“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 …
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, 8/2022
Our first article from August is “But Are They ‘War Crimes’?,” which appeared in Commonweal Magazine, a lay Catholic journal. This is a rare article that provides significant background on the definition of war crimes in international law, considers Ukrainian accusations, and assesses which Russia might be guilty of. I find the concept of war …
The Nuclear Threat and How to Avoid It
After a period of relative calm during the summer, the threat of a nuclear exchange coming out of the Russia-Ukraine war seems to have increased drastically in the last few weeks. How serious is it, and how can we avoid it? Someone commented to me recently that dictators such as Putin enjoy a lot of …