The Ukraine: Perspectives on Possibilities for the Future

The author looks into possible pathways to an international resolution of the conflict in the Ukraine. The current conflict in the Ukraine should be seen in the context of developments since the 1054 and the 1400s before the Treaty of Westphalia in the Western calendar. The current historical memory and collective consciousness of the Russians experienced over many years, can be found in the numerous betrayals from the West over a long time. Betrayals of which deep memories still linger and still influence Russian collective historical memory. These collections of socio-historical memories rest on brutal intervention/aggression from the West inflicted in history and cannot be ignored in the current loaded context. The rational way out is negotiations. There is no single sovereignty in Ukraine at stake here. The right to choose your sovereignty should be consistently applied to a divided Ukrainian people. People as a self-defined group, should be given the right to choose their political habitus and their future belonging. The wish for sovereignty has at least two sides and apply to the Eastern Ukraine. Conflict cannot solve the problem. Creative and far-sighted alternatives, even if it looks far-fetched, may well provide new opportunities for peace in the future.