Dan Schueftan: Ukrainian lesson: If you want peace, prepare for war

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In this week’s #Forum2000online Chat, Dan Schueftan, Head of the International Graduate Program in National Security Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel, joined Martin Ehl, a journalist and Chief Analyst of Hospodářské noviny (ihned.cz), to talk about the war in Ukraine. "From the Israeli point of view, what Russia is doing in Ukraine is barbaric and is a major danger to the world order", Dr. Schueftan said. How is the war perceived in the Middle East? What is the position of Israel? What lessons can be learned globally from the Russian invasion of Ukraine? According to Dan Schueftan, you will learn that:

  • Israel is being careful and is not seeking a military confrontation with Russia in the Middle East. "We have a strong Russian force on our border and we have a vital interest, an existential interest, in continuing to hit the Iranian bases in Syria”.
  • If societies do not recognize that there is evil and that war is possible, then they will forget to defend themselves. Europe and democracies in general are learning now the lesson.
  • The only way to stop the war is to deter the enemies by being strong enough. Now that Europeans, Americans and Western societies understand that it is necessary to be prepared for war, "you can better understand what is happening in the Middle East, not only from an Israeli point of view, but from everybody in the Middle East who doesn’t want to be subjugated to Iran". This is a very important lesson to understand globally.
  • When there is a bigger threat, then forces will come together that otherwise would not come together. That is why there is an Arab-Israeli coalition against Iran.
  • Regarding the situation in Ukraine, the major change of attitude is seen on the left: in Germany, a Chancellor from the SPD is doubling the defence budget and a democrat in the US now understands that "against Russia, even if you are not going to war, at least you have to help other countries to go to war".
  • Democracy needs also to defend itself domestically from enemies. If no meassure against them is taken, they will destroy democracy

The interview was recorded on May 6, 2022, and moderated by Martin Ehl, a journalist and Chief Analyst at Hospodářské noviny (ihned.cz), Czech Republic

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