General, personal note on the whole Situation of Ukraine war and associated tensions worldwide:
During the (final) years of Cold War, I was still a child. I remember several scenes with my family at the TV. (History lesson for those younger lads: The family TV, whose channels you switched via push-buttons at the front. Not that it mattered at lot ...) I still remember the mood of a strange, unspoken danger, lingering whenever new political events where reported even though the general direction was already towards deescalation. Situations got pretty tense again 1989, which eventually was resolved when the iron curtain fell.
Sure, I somehow understood, those people celebrating at a wall, which was about to be demolished, was "good", but I definitely was not able yet to understand the real political implications... (I guess I rather have wondered if the default enemies in C64-Games would cease to be Soviets, any more ... ;-))
But I still remember how incredibly happy my parents, particularly my father was, (He had witnessed how Europe was torn into pieces during and after WWII. He hoped that the broken continent would be whole one day again, though I'm not sure if he'd actually lost hope along the way.)
Anyway, I became a man in times when I thought everything would become peaceful. That we'd finally overcome the dark days of the past and the future would just become better and better. And for a few years, I felt vindicated. (For the record: Conditions already deteriorated years before the Ukraine-Russia conflict.)
I feel heartbroken to see some remaining chances go into pieces for good. Chances which apparently. never were as robust as I believed in the 90's. Still there were there.
(And before you say it: I'm aware who did the most recent hammer blow to those chances. I also don't want to exonerate other politicians who where in charge since then from their contributions to the whole context.)
Yet, since I do not want to live in a world with even more conflict and staying at the verge of extinction until we finally fail a last time, I simply suggest to keep as many ties and channels as possible between the people all around the world. For benevolent, even if difficult exchange. I see no better way to prepare political systems and structures that hopefully will become better than the ones of the past.
That will be my easter message. ;-)
