A negotiated peace between Ukraine and Russia is possible!
On the proposal by retired General Harald Kujat, Prof. Peter Brandt, Prof. Hajo Funke and Prof. Horst Teltschik
by Robert Seidel
(19 September 2023) Since August 25th, the German federal government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz has had a veritable proposal for a negotiated peace between Ukraine and Russia. Now it's up to the German government to get serious. Is the German government willing and able to initiate a peace process within the EU and NATO for the interests of the population?
To be clear and to avoid any misunderstandings about the quality of the proposal, this document for a negotiated peace was drawn up by Professor Peter Brandt, Professor Hajo Funke, retired General Harald Kujat and Professor Horst Teltschik. The names of the authors alone speak for themselves.
- Retired General Harald Kujat was the highest German military officer and held leading positions in NATO for years.
- Prof. Horst Telschik is an economic manager. He was a close advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl and worked in the Federal Chancellery. From 1999 to 2008 he headed the Munich Security Conference.
- Prof. Peter Brandt is Professor of New and Contemporary History.
- Prof. Hajo Funke taught political science at the Otto Suhr Institute at the FU Berlin with a focus on right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism.
About the proposal
The initial situation has been drawn with great expertise and a broad political and military background. The authors differentiate between the previous resolutions and the various approaches to peace negotiations and outline the current situation. Bottom line: This war can be ended. If it is not ended, it threatens to result in a catastrophe for Europe. Neither side will be able to win it – neither Russia nor Ukraine.
Logically, this proposal shows individual steps towards a negotiated peace. Basic requirement: the political will must be present on both sides. The authors clearly counter media prejudice that the Russian government does not want peace, supported by facts over the past few months.
Three phases
The negotiation proposal is briefly summarized below. It can be viewed in full on the homepage of the publication “Zeitgeschehen im Fokus”.1
At the beginning of the document, the controversial starting position of both warring parties with their conflicting conditions for peace negotiations is being outlined and points out that a sensible approach would be “to resume the Istanbul negotiations at the point reached at the time [29. March 2022]”.
The concrete implementation of this negotiated peace proposal is being laid out in three phases:
- Ceasefire with UN support. The deployment of the United Nations requires a consensus within the UN Security Council. This consensus is essential for the success of the negotiations and for the implementation of the peace plan.
- For the peace negotiations, the authors outline several de-escalating steps in the sense of demilitarizing the war region. Guarantee states are also included.
- In the longer term, only a new European security and peace order based on further development of the CSCE format and the “Charter of Paris” can lead to security and freedom in the region.
Getting serious today
This negotiation proposal offers a unique opportunity for the German government – perhaps in conjunction with France – to achieve peace for all of Europe.
Germany, as the central hub of the war, as a main supplier of weapons and as a financier of the war, has enough influence and opportunities to reset the course. That would be a real contribution to peace for future generations in Europe!
1 https://zeitgeschehen-im-fokus.ch/de/newspaper-ausgabe/sonderausgabe-vom-28-august-2023.html
