Thoughts about war and peace
I am neither historian, politician nor soldier and of course my knowledge and understanding are limited accordingly. I see myself as an artist and Zen student. And in this sense I have formulated my thoughts on the current events, because in the end I have nothing except this Zeitgeist, which I try to touch and help to shape. On the one hand, I think and write to sort myself out internally and, on the other hand, because I believe silence is not always the best option. I feel right now like when a close person has lost a loved one, and I want to condole with them. There will be few words that will do justice to his grief, and yet I want to try and say something. Out of compassion, out of respect and out of decency and to overcome my own cowardice. It is in this spirit that I dare to share the following words now - they do not really endure beyond this present moment. Constantly, my person and my work are reformulating and redefining themselves. This is my work as an artist and my duty as a Zen practitioner. When one speaks, one leans out the window. When one doesn't, one does, too.
I am not shocked by the invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine. But I am indescribably sad and, yes, also angry and much more. The way the Putin regime has systematically destroyed the Democratic Forces and freedom of expression in its own country in recent years, how it imprisons and murders opposition figures, how it deceived the world community in connection with the invasion of Crimea, how it deceitfully sows discord in eastern Ukraine and continuously stirs up conflict out of self-interest, how it cynically lied to and deceitfully deceived all countries and their political representatives in connection with the preparations for the invasion of Ukraine - including Switzerland, which tried to offer a chance for dialogue with hospitality - corresponds to all the characteristics of a fascist regime that despises humanity, and unfortunately I was correct in my early assessment.
It is logical that the former satellite states oriented themselves towards the West after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was basically not a union at all, because most of the satellite states were forced into the alliance by military force. In contrast, they later voluntarily decided to orient themselves to the West and become NATO members. NATO did not coerce or force a single state into membership. Just as the Roman Empire, for example, could never really have a legitimate claim to consider the conquered territories between Norway and North Africa as historically belonging to it, Russia today has no right to treat Ukraine as part of its territory of state and influence, or rather to suppress it.
The fact that mankind finally developed nuclear weapons and that regimes and dictators and all other, nuclear powers thereby elevate themselves to a supposed, ultimately unassailable position, is the greatest catastrophe of modern times. Nevertheless, I do not consider it an option not to provide Ukraine with the necessary military assistance, including NATO air force support. Democracy, international and human rights must not be intimidated, weakened and destroyed by the threat of nuclear war by a regime. Therefore, I plead for Ukraine to be accepted into NATO immediately now. Even if the price should be that the Putin regime drops atomic bombs on cities, even wiping out humanity.
Of course, we can now add peace doves or Ukrainian flags to our profile pictures on social media, and this also touches me because it shows that we take part and feel solidarity. But what does peace mean? What does dialogue mean? For a dialogue, I depend on a vis-à-vis. But if my counterpart only lies to me and deceives me, no dialogue can take place. Peace, on the other hand, consists exclusively of non-peace elements. The peace we enjoy here is based on the wars that were fought in Europe during the Reformation, during the Enlightenment and at the end of the two world wars. Freedom of speech, democracy, emancipation and all our freedoms were fought for with much bloodshed. The fact that the Buddha, for example, was able to practice meditation and mindfulness peacefully in his bamboo grove over 2500 years ago depended, among other things, on the fact that he was protected by the corresponding king and his army. The same is true today for the Dalai Lama and those Tibetans in exile, who can live and work today under the protection of the Indian state and its army. Or in every situation in which the police has to intervene in our country, we use the power of the state and delegate the corresponding disputes.
Of course, we can practice and encourage nonviolent dialogue on a schoolhouse playground. But when a fifteen-year-old battle-hardened man beats up a five-year-old defenseless child, should we just stand by, pray, or raise a white flag with a dove of peace? Unfortunately, that is not enough; we must intervene and hopefully there are some, battle-hardened, strong, courageous individuals who can and will do so. With that in mind, NATO must now intervene in Ukraine out of compassion, solidarity, and ultimately self-interest. Immediately. And with full military force and violence.
We cannot allow the Putin regime, to break international law and wage a brutal, ruthless war of aggression against what is, in this sense, an innocent, sovereign state, murdering children, women and men without regard and destroying an entire country. War is a catastrophic, desperate, and extremely primitive and brutal failure. Yes, I admit that. And I also admit that I am not a soldier. But my weapon is my mind, and I want to and must use it now. Of course, I have my highest doubts whether there is anything for which one should be ready to die - perhaps life is the only thing for which we can and should do that. Not for an ideology, not for a religion, not for a principle, not for a retribution, not out of hatred, not out of greed and not out of delusion but out of deep understanding and love for life. Under a totalitarian, fanatical regime there is no life and no freedom but only discrimination and manipulation of the great masses for the self-interest of a corrupt, selfish and ultimately cowardly elite. Or do you see Vladimir Putin, who so often presented himself as a strong man topless in military pants or in judo-fighting kimono, now fighting on the front line and risking his life? No, of course not, he is hiding in his bunker behind his web of lies, surrounded by puppets who have to agree with him in everything because they think this way they can preserve and save their own lives. But puppets are the dead pawns of the insane man.
And let's face it, any form of sanctions is itself an act of war and will end up leaving the citizens of the sanctioned state deprived and suffering, with the risk that the poverty it creates may give rise to new conflicts or wars. We must not think that by "merely" imposing economic sanctions, we would thus have no blood on our own hands. To think this would be wrong and hypocritical.
And what do we think will happen if the adopted sanctions against Russia achieve the fatal effect that President Biden is aiming for and has promised? Economic sanctions are also a form of war. Then, Russia and the Russian president will gradually run out of steam and that will threaten him and his regime as much as military strength. That's why Putin is already threatening that deciding to impose further sanctions is tantamount to a declaration of war on him. And therefore, if he is threatened to run out of air by the sanctions enacted, he will further expand his attacks and, in the worst case, will then resort to nuclear weapons. That's why, I fear, we're not saving ourselves anything by trying to stay out of the Ukraine war militarily.
For this reason, I consider this strategy of the U.S. and NATO, that they have assured Putin from the beginning, that they will not enter militarily into this conflict, disastrous and also mendacious. Because the economic sanctions are also a form of war, and the sacrifice of Ukraine will strategically, in my opinion, cause great damage to the U.S. and NATO in the long term. Resist the beginnings – nip this in the bud! We should remember this when a totalitarian-fascist regime is approaching.
And yes, we fed the monster ourselves by supplying it with weapons for profit and by resigning ourselves to co-financing the Putin regime by making a profit ourselves from the deals we kept with the corrupt oligarchs.
But no, we cannot watch Ukrainians being slaughtered, and their political leaders murdered or incarcerated for life in Siberia after a propagandist show trial. Because in the end, we will all become Putin’s slaves. It has already begun. Can’t we see that?
All this shit really breaks my heart. Please prove me wrong!
Gen Atem
March 6, 2022
