Giving peace a chance...

At first glance, it seems understandable that the Ukrainian-Russian war is of a different nature from the wars we witnessed until recently. As is well known, the global perception that emerged at the end of the Second World War can be understood as pushing the phenomenon of war away from the center. The blocs of the United States and the Soviet Union froze the possibility of a central war that would result in complete annihilation. As if there was a tacit agreement between them to dissolve the products of the war-making sector, which is the most profitable sector of the capitalist economy, in the semi-central and lateral worlds. Wars were fought in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

The Ukrainian-Russian war showed that this trend had been completely reversed. The war has once again settled in the center. (I won't go into details of this again, because I've covered enough reasons for this in previous articles.) Henceforth, we can foresee that local wars will be decorated with a central confrontation that is no longer bearable. This is the point.

So let's ask, can this war be between Ukraine and Russia? Regardless of the hopes, I am among those who think that this is not possible. The centered world warns that it will deepen and spread. If we look at the data coming from Germany, Japan, and France regarding the increase in military investments and expenditures, we can see the escalation more accurately and clearly.

What is strange and incomprehensible, which can lead people to be deeply pessimistic here, is the weakness of the expected reactions to this escalating process. Militarism is an ideology that is mainly promoted by the traditional right. From this point of view, it should not be surprising that conservatives in the UK or neo-conservatives in the USA have emerged on the scene. Surprisingly, the European left is also far from the reactions expected of it on these issues. Britain's Labor Party, for example, is fully complicit in Conservative circles on Britain's global doctrine, especially after Corbyn's exclusion from the political scene.

And when it comes to Germany, the picture is largely counterproductive. Today, we find that the government dominated by the German left, which came to power after the defeat of the Christian Democrats, bears the banner of armaments and spreading wars. And the German Greens play a leading role in it. Among the social democrats, there are groups led by politicians like Kevin Kühnert who advocate abandoning neoliberal policies.

On the other hand, recent statements by the young leader of the Social Democratic Party, Lars Klingbeil, show how the German left is living in an authoritarian and sometimes nationalist deviation. These statements speak of Germany's reformation of the European Union and also indicate the need to get rid of its impurities.

There seems to be hope in France; Mélenchon somehow succeeded in bringing the French left together. But the extremist ideas it represents are highly debated within this multilateral structure. It is worth noting that the leftist NUPES coalition in France is a fragile structure, just like the extreme leftist "Podemos" coalition in Spain. The internal consistency of these alliances is rather weak. Moreover, it is evident that they derive their existence mostly from internal social and economic issues. No lines of deep criticism of Anglo-American militarism have yet emerged.

We have not yet encountered any indication that the reaction of the intellectual world against the danger of war is steadily rising to be taken into account. And there's even worse. The Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Zizek, explicitly praised armaments against NATO and Russia. These were statements that crowned the misery of the intellectuals in the neoliberal world.

Who has common values such as humanity, a common future for humanity and its benefits, at a time when war is spreading and evolving into a massive confrontation? It is worth noting that programs such as the “Green New Deal”, sustainable development, a decarbonized world, green energy, smart cities, global socialism, and asexuality are unclear, and it is not known exactly how they will be implemented, and what they will lead to.

Have you ever come across a firm and consistent focus on anti-militarism in circles that support these ideas? Suppose that these are the proposals that will establish a new civilization. But the question remains, what is the nature of the intermediate processes that express the transition from here to there? This question has not yet been answered. Then a new question arises: Will war and severe destruction be the price for this transformation?