Military expert Edward Luttwak sees that the only way out of the war in Ukraine is to hold legal referendums in Luhansk and Donetsk.
Military expert Edward Luttwakin according to Germany could have prevented the war of aggression launched by Russia in Ukraine. Luttwak shared his views with the German newspaper The world in an interview.
“Germany caused this war. The attitude of the Germans made this war possible. So this is again a major strategic failure for Germany, ”he told Die Welt.
Edward Luttwak is a U.S. military expert and author known for his work on grand strategy, geoeconomics, military history, and international relations. He has studied at the London School of Economics, which focuses on economics and social sciences, and at Johns Hopkins University.
Edward Luttwak in 2013.
Luttwakin in Germany’s view, it could have prevented the war on 23 March if it had taken a tougher stance on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project and arms supplies. Luttwak also said the pre-war message from the German administration was a “green light for Putin”.
“Chancellor Olaf Scholzin the strategy was wrong at the time. If he had then said that if Russia invaded Ukraine, the Nord Stream 2 project would be stopped, Germany would supply weapons to Ukraine and that Germany would allow Estonia to export artillery to Ukraine, Putin would most likely not have attacked. ”
Luttwak bases his view on the fact that Germany has a key role to play in Russia because of its position in world politics, and therefore Germany’s more tricky actions at the beginning of the war could have prevented the outbreak of war.
“Germany is crucial for Russia because it has a certain position in the world. Call this position X. And then Germany has a position in Russia that is three times X, X to the power of three. If the German government had said that if you attacked Ukraine, even with a nine-millimeter Parabellum pistol, we would stop Nord Stream 2 and much more, the Russians would not have attacked. ”
Luttwak in an interview, he also commented on the ways in which the war of aggression launched by Russia could be ended.
He believes that the only way to end the war is for the Russians to accept the holding of legal referendums in Donbass, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
“There is only one way out of this war: the Russians must accept legal referendums in Donetsk and Luhansk. Not the ones they are [venäläiset] organized and carried out by themselves, but involving thousands of observers. “
Luttwak believes that in this way Putin could say that he has achieved something for Russia and that Ukraine could not refuse a democratic approach to resolving the long-running conflict.
“Ukraine cannot oppose such a democratic approach, it cannot refuse to give people a choice. I think that is the only way to end this conflict. This has been my opinion since the early days of the war. There is an illusion that Russia can win, can not. What can be done is to give Putin a small profit. ”