When are we at war?
Willy Wimmer’s view of a serious event*
(28 September 2022) “The answer to this question so far depends on the Russian Federation’s assessment in light of the Western approach in Ukraine and the Russian assessment of the opportuneness of whether and when conclusions are to be drawn from the findings.
Each side would do well to provide a legally clean argumentation for its own actions according to the recognised rules of international law, including the findings from NATO’s war against Yugoslavia, which violated international law. In the process, an allegedly existing ‘right to protect’ outside one’s own national territory was postulated.
This also concerns the question of when one is at war according to one’s own perception. Some months ago, the Scientific Services of the Bundestag presented ground-breaking statements on this.1 It is advisable to place these principles next to the actual development that is now taking place.
As a result of the possible referendums in certain areas, there could be decisions in the Russian Federation which, in the Russian understanding of the state, mean a shift of the Russian state border at least 200 km to the west. All NATO activities would then not take place in a civil war area of Ukraine, but, in the Russian view, directed against Russia.
In view of the actual assessments, the aforementioned report by the Scientific Services of the Bundestag turns support activities on the side of Ukraine in a civil war area into a military action by NATO against the Russian Federation. This opens the door directly to global war. President Putin's speech on 21 September 2022 made this unmistakably clear.
NATO will then no longer need to declare an alliance emergency, because it will be the one leading the attack.”
| * Willy Wimmer, born in 1943, studied law and has been a member of the CDU since 1959. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1976 to 2009, dealing primarily with foreign and security policy. From 1985 to 1988 he was the defence policy spokesman of the CDU parliamentary group and from 1988 to 1992 Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence. Wimmer was Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly from 1994 to 2000. |
Source: https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=88421, 23 September 2022
(Translation "Swiss Standpoint ")