Recommended Reading – Russia’s position in the world in 2007

Peter Scholl-Latour: Russia in a Pincer Grip. Putin’s Empire between Nato, China and Islam. First edition 2007, 17th edition 2022, Ullstein Verlag.

(DE) In this book, the German-French journalist, non-fiction author, and publicist Peter Scholl-Latour (born 1924, died 2014) analyses Russia’s situation from the perspective of a contemporary of the year 2006. In the preface, written in 2007, he still refers explicitly to Vladimir Putin’s speech in which he denounced the behaviour of the USA and the Europeans at the Munich “Wehrkunde Conference” (later called the Munich Security Conference) as unacceptable.

The subsequent developments in the years leading up to the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, and ultimately to the war of aggression in 2022, are not reflected in this work, which was reprinted in 2022. Nevertheless, it can contribute significantly to understanding the prehistory of this escalation.

The last chapter is devoted to Ukraine, starting with the “Orange Revolution” on the Meidan in Kyiv in 2004. The way the situation is described and the bravery and capacity for the suffering of the Ukrainians are depicted looks very familiar to the current reporting by Western media in 2022.

At that time, the Ukrainian young and beautiful politician Yulia Tymoshenko passionately, reminiscent of Evita Peròn, fought for Ukraine’s freedom and independence internally and externally. The media adored her. Politicians at least pretended to support her.

Today, it is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky who is seen as a hero and revered accordingly or at least treated with respect. There is hardly a meeting of powerful Western states anymore where the Ukrainian president is not called in.

Back then, masses of Ukrainians held out daily on the central square in Kyiv, braving freezing cold and hunger. In any case, the Western media admired, celebrated and supported this heroic behaviour of the Ukrainians, just as it is today. At the time, the press did not allow this heroic image to be disturbed by showing the 1500-person supply tent in the square in Kyiv.

Ukraine and its people were stylised into an icon.

But images fade, and stories, as well as their protagonists, are forgotten.

Has this profoundly changed Ukraine? Has it improved Ukraine’s relations with the EU and Russia?

What became of this solidarity of the Western world, the Europeans and the USA?

What were the consequences of Putin’s all-out attack in 2007?

These are the questions we are asking ourselves today as we stand on the brink of a world war that, if it broke out, began with the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine.

Every politically responsible person, every journalist and every politically thinking person should be interested in how this experienced publicist assessed the situation in 2006 at that time.

Compared to the actual course of history up to today, 16 years later, invaluable insights could be gained from this.

In retrospect, one can perhaps better recognise errors and omissions and possibly find ways of de-escalation. (TA)