Social issues

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?

European commonalities and perspectives

Culture as the basis for peace and prosperity

by Wolfgang Bittner,* Germany

(12 September 2023) After a few years of thaw in German-Russian relations and an initially still pale sun of peace and prosperity had penetrated the dark clouds, there is once again an acute cold war due to the war in Ukraine after 24 February 2022, which can quickly turn into a hot war. Aggression that threatens the very existence of Europe continues to be fomented, Russia is permanently provoked, and it does not look as if this tragedy of the century will soon come to an end and the peoples of Europe will return to their commonalities. At present, the opposite is the case; strong centrifugal forces and divergent political ideas are increasingly leading to conflicts, also within the European states.
Book review

Digital Media – “Loss of Reality”

Joachim Bauer* warns of the psychological consequences of digitalisation

by J. J. Wehrli

(12 September 2023) In his latest publication, “Loss of Reality – How AI and the virtual world take possession of us and threaten humanity”,1 physician and psychotherapist Joachim Bauer deals with the influence of digital media. His core thesis: virtual worlds and social media enable, if not downright promote, an escape from the real world. As a result, humanity and thus all of society suffers.

No propaganda – no war

“Cognitive Warfare” against one’s own population

by Robert Seidel

(5 September 2023) If you want to gain an orientation in today’s world, you must learn to distinguish and assess information more accurately. The debate about “fake news” has shown that not all information can be taken at face value. However, not every item of “fake news” is actually a fake. Since the Ukraine war, it has obviously been a question of the prerogative of interpretation in the minds of one’s own population. The people in the individual states are to be mobilised for this war – which has now taken on a global proportion.

The new El Dorado for cocaine traffickers

Cocaine does not seem affected by inflation. Here's why.

by Celine Pina,* France

(5 September 2023) As with our European neighbours, cocaine is now available at bargain prices in our cities and countryside. Imported in bulk, it ceased to be a luxury product. But its disturbing power of corruption and destruction has not diminished.

The dark side of calling for responsibility

by Antoine-Frédéric Bernhard,* Switzerland

(29 August 2023) Get vaccinated? An act of "responsibility"! Just like lowering your thermostat to 19 degrees, no longer flying or lowering your meat consumption. This rhetoric of calling for responsibility, omnipresent today, has a dark side.