Weapons, sanctions and what next?

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2022 is all about the Russian war of aggression. Ukrainians explain their demands and see the free world facing a decisive battle.

An exhibition on “Russian war crimes” is now taking place in the former “Russia House”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is also calling on the West not to forget.

Gian Ehrenzeller / Keystone

Joy, the widespread will to stand together to prevent worse things from happening, but also an unusual amount of perplexity characterize the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this time. The satisfaction of the more than 2000 participants from business, politics and civil society at finally being able to meet and exchange ideas in person again can be felt everywhere. And this despite the fact that noticeably fewer company and government heads have traveled in person because of Corona, the current reporting season and competing events.

Cassis leaves no room for doubt

The start of the WEF is all about the war in Ukraine. A war that the Swiss Federal President, Ignazio Cassis, in his opening speech, openly described as an aggression that disregarded everything that the international community had achieved in decades of civilizational progress. Cities would be turned into cemeteries, and a sovereign people would be denied the basis of existence.

In view of this brutal violation of (humanitarian) international law, neutral Switzerland has accepted the sanctions of the EU. That surprised some abroad. But it is essential for Switzerland that democracy is stronger than dictatorship and that international law is stronger than submission. Cassis emphasized that there is no neutral attitude towards the brutal violation of fundamental values, which are also values ​​of Switzerland.

Neutrality does not mean standing on the sidelines. The only limits to the freedom of action of neutral Switzerland are the principles “no participation in wars, international cooperation – but no membership in military alliances, no deliveries of troops and weapons to warring parties, no rights of passage”. With the conference planned for July in Lugano, the Confederation wants to make an international contribution to peace and reconstruction in Ukraine.

However, the Ukrainians appearing at the WEF currently seem to see as many arms deliveries as the best form of “humanitarian aid”. Five Ukrainian parliamentarians from various parties, the cosmopolitan former Ukrainian boxing champions Vitaly and Wladimir Klitschko (Vitaly, who has a doctorate in sports science, has been the mayor of Kyiv since 2014) and various journalists from Ukraine all report on an almost unimaginable struggle for survival and terrible atrocities that the Ukrainians united in an unconditional will to fight.

«We fight for your values»

“The war has transformed us, we will see the world with different eyes, we will not be able to forget these images and the smell of death,” says Wladimir Klitschko and warns the world not to breathe a sigh of relief too soon. The war is far from over, every day the sirens are wailing in Kyiv and countless people are dying needlessly in the Ukraine. Luckily, there is the international media reporting on the spot. On Russian television, on the other hand, it is said that the Ukrainians (and not the Russians) destroyed Mariupol. Nothing is more dangerous than disinformation from a state media monopoly.

Every morning, new numbers of victims are reported to him, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was connected via video. In his olive-green shirt, hands clasped and dark circles under his eyes, he looks tired until he begins to speak. Ukraine doesn’t have much time, and he doesn’t know how much time Europe and the USA have left either. It must now be a question of preventing such a war from ever happening again in Europe. This doesn’t work with lazy compromises, as some demanded, but only by stopping Russia and punishing her for her actions in such a way that she regrets her cruel deeds.

If the free world had reacted more decisively to the occupation of Crimea in 2014, Putin’s attack on Ukraine could probably have been prevented. “Please understand that we are fighting for your values ​​and ask yourself what you have done to help us,” Selenski implored the audience.

In order to push the last Russian soldier out of Ukrainian territory, Ukraine urgently needs more modern weapons. The Russian blockade of the seaports must be broken and the financial sanctions against Russia tightened so that it can no longer afford the war. Zelensky called for a full embargo on Russian oil and gas and for international investors to withdraw from Russia. For reconstruction, he wants to make his country a European precedent for how to create a radical transformation. Cities, regions and companies should enter into individual partnerships with the West.

Dialogue without dialogue

But the discussions at the WEF also bear witness to Western helplessness and an oppressive feeling of powerlessness. How is Ukraine supposed to achieve the desired victory for the free world while Russia’s military slowly advances in eastern Ukraine? Just with more Western weapons? And how can a nuclear power be defeated without a third world war breaking out? Where does the western willingness to provide support end?

Unfortunately, the dialogue at this year’s WEF will be conducted without dialogue. The Russian perspective is completely absent, and the voices calling for an early compromise have not yet been heard. That seems very solidary and world-improving, but unfortunately also oppressively unrealistic. An end to the cruel war and the associated insecurity is not in sight.

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