Give diplomacy a chance!

In view of the prevailing war hysteria, diplomacy has been completely pushed into the background. What's more, essential elements of diplomacy are being discredited. For centuries, it was part of diplomacy to understand the other, friend or foe. Today, "Putin-understander" is a dirty word. Negotiations characterised the "art of diplomacy". Most wars were ended through diplomatic negotiations. Today, the saying is "you don't talk to an aggressor", which means that in Ukraine they are fighting "as long as it takes", not negotiating. And if trade relations have always been an integral part of peaceful relations, today those who have cultivated trade relations with Russia in the past in the interests of both sides are being labelled as "naive". It is certainly not possible to maintain peace through trade alone when the media, the defence industry and parts of the high bureaucracy are geared towards war, as has been the case in the West for some time.