A Certain Way of Life
2011/07/18
Honorary Professor
The Tubingen University has announced that it had awarded an honorary professorship to Wolfgang Ischinger, the organizer of the Munich Security Conference. It is in this capacity that this summer semester, Ischinger is leading a seminar in "International Crisis Diplomacy," which, according to the course catalog, will investigate "exemplary analyses of crisis situations in international politics." Ischinger is including the example of NATO's aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999, which he refers to euphemistically in his syllabus as the "Kosovo Crisis."[1] In his function as State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ischinger had played a decisive role in the diplomatic preparations and the propagandistic underpinning for that war, including the repeatedly disproven allegation that the attack on Yugoslavia was to prevent a "humanitarian catastrophe" in the Kosovo province. A year after the war, Ischinger still declared that "not geopolitical disputes over power, which historically had so seriously afflicted Southeast Europe, had had the highest priority, but rather the necessity to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. Rather than pursuing national interests, the international community was pursuing the objectives of implementing fundamental legal norms and human rights."[2]
Dig Fewer Wells, Shoot More
Ischinger openly supports western wars of aggression - particularly those currently in Afghanistan and Libya. In his opinion, military combat operations, even in violation of international law, are advisable anywhere "where a) we are capable and where b) the intervention can be reconciled with our national interests."[3] In the case of Afghanistan, the former diplomat calls for a deliberate escalation: "soldiers are being trained to, if necessary, kill others - or at least to threaten, so that it is credible that if one does not do what is expected, one could get killed. That is the purpose. (...) We dig fewer wells and must (...) shoot more."[4] He feels the same way about Libya. After having called for "a decision to be taken,"[5] in an interview in the Austrian press, just a few days later, he reiterated that the USA is "justifiably" expecting that "the Europeans take things in hand,"[6] in his inaugural lecture in Tubingen.
New Threats
On the surface, Ischinger's inaugural lecture was focused on the creation of an Atlantic-European-Russian "Security Partnership" with the objective of drastically reducing the nuclear potential of the countries engaged. However, it became clear that Ischinger's project was the expression of a political strategy that, on the one hand, is directed against the poverty-stricken zones of the southern hemisphere and, on the other, against global economic rivals, such as China. Ischinger explains that today "threats to our security" no longer arise from "adversary aggressive armies of threatening neighbors," but rather from the "weakness and instability" of so-called failing states, and he calls for "defending a certain 'way of life'" by way of repelling "uncontrolled migration." At the same time, the former diplomat is convinced "that demographic and economic trends will lead to Europe's decline in relative global importance, while the influence of emerging powers, such as China, India, and Brazil will grow." Therefore, it is in the "mutual interests," explains Ischinger, "not only to accept the interdependence between Russia and the EU, but also to provide it political format, to insure functional pan-European cooperation." "Otherwise our relative decline will be even more rapid and massive."[7]
Practice-Oriented
"Relations to Russia" will be the focus of Ischinger's summer semester seminar at the Tubingen University. The climax of the course is a visit of several days to Berlin, planned for this week, where, according to the course catalog, the students will be brought together "to discuss - practice oriented - with political decision makers in ministries and embassies."[8] According to the résumé of Ischinger's 2009 summer semester seminar at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, his courses were particularly "practice-oriented." As in Tubingen, the course was also focused on "crisis diplomacy." Among his guest lecturers, were several high-ranking members of the military, including former Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Klaus Naumann. His theme was the "NATO intervention in Kosovo 1999."[9]
War is Peace
The student body is sharply criticizing the fact that Wolfgang Ischinger has been awarded an honorary professorship at the University of Tubingen. They are accusing the academic panels of violating the "Civil Clause" implemented in December 2009, which allows that research and teaching must serve exclusively "peaceful purposes." In Tubingen there seems to be method to these violations. The "National Association for Security Policy at Universities," an organization of the Bundeswehr Reserve Association, invited Ischinger already back in April 2010. In the same year, a member of the German armed forces led a seminar handling NATO troops' counter-insurgency combat in Afghanistan. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[10]) The University of Tubingen's regency appears to be following the strategy of declaring military personnel and proponents of wars of aggression to peace politicians. Ischinger's seminar, for example was billed with the following announcement: "students in (...) 'peace research and international politics courses' will have priority admission."[11]
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