Newsletter #13
27-11-2025
Without peace as its guiding principle, Europe cannot survive. Peace in Europe begins in its own consciousness.
The European Peace Project is the framework in which this consciousness is being reborn.
On Sunday, November 30, 2025, we will present the European Transcontinental Initiative (TCI) to the public at a citizens’ forum organized by the Lawyers for Enlightenment (AFA) in Rüsselsheim. Join us in discussing what kind of Europe we need, what Europe should look like in the 21st century, and what MEGA could look like and how it could function. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cleb–SQME
Registration is still open here: https://krasser.guru/veranstaltungen/6-afa-buergerforum-anwaelte-fuer-aufklaerung/
If you would like to get in the mood, here is a conversation with Ulrike Guerot about the current turning points in history https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et12m8Q9Y3E, sas well as an interesting lecture by Hauke Ritz on the relationship between geopolitics and culture, given at the Peace Council in Kassel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVGM9SSRD3g
Why does it seem as if everyone, every country, wants to be the best friend of the USA – a relatively young state that emerged at almost the same time as modern capitalism and therefore has few pre-capitalist values? First there were the care packages after the destruction of World War II, then the freedom of the 1960s and 1970s, the promise of the “land of opportunity” (from dishwasher to millionaire), rock ‘n’ roll/pop music, Hollywood selling dreams, the facade of glamour and fame. But this is largely an illusion and an empty promise.
How could we have strayed so far from our roots, our own traditions and origins? We want to find creative ways, engage in cross-border discussions to rediscover and revive them, because when we do, we will find what unites us as Europeans.
Each of our societies could start by engaging in self-reflection in their own country, and our task as the European Peace Project is to bring all of this together.
We are pleased to have launched a European Citizens Conference with the Portuguese for the resumption of relations between Europe and Russia, where we discussed peace plans for non-military conflict resolution with renowned scientists, journalists, and high-ranking military officials from many European countries in Lisbon last weekend.
Any peace plan and negotiations are better than continuing or even escalating a war. In my view, it is not the Ukrainians who are the losers in this peace plan, as is once again being propagated in many poor German media outlets, but we Europeans (which includes the Ukrainians, as well as Russia). Due to the criminally bad policies of EU governments, which have torpedoed negotiations from the outset instead of conducting them, and want to continue and escalate the war, we as Europeans are now paying the highest price, while the US is earning four times as much – from arms sales through counterproductive arms deliveries paid for by the EU, exports of its expensive, environmentally harmful fracking gas, reconstruction, and new trade relations with Russia. Meanwhile, the incompetent EU governments have cut themselves off from cheap Russian raw materials and are expected to continue footing the bill. Von der Leyen wants to sink another €135 billion in taxpayer money into Ukraine.
Since the start of the war, over €300 billion has flowed from the West to the corrupt Zelensky government, €76 billion of which came from Germany. Next year, Merz wants to squander an additional €11.5 billion in German taxpayer money on weapons for Ukraine.
It is a shame that EU governments have maneuvered themselves into such a diplomatic sideline that they only appear in the current peace plan as paymasters of another 100 billion, while the US, which under Biden also rejected all diplomatic conflict resolutions, leading to the Russian military operation in the first place, which made the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline more than convenient, is the main beneficiary. In order to regain influence over the future of this continent, Europeans should offer to end sanctions and resume all channels of dialogue and energy relations with Russia. We at the European Peace Project will work towards this goal, together with all European citizens who are committed to peace and international understanding. https://braveneweurope.com/ian-proud-russia-wants-peace-but-doesnt-need-peace-ukraine-needs-peace-but-doesnt-want-peace?fbclid=
https://braveneweurope.com/ian-proud-russia-wants-peace-but-doesnt-need-peace-ukraine-needs-peace-but-doesnt-want-peace?fbclid=
On the fatal reaction of the so-called “European leaders”:
Merz, Macron, Starmer, and Zelensky have joined forces to torpedo key elements of the US peace plan. With demands such as that the Ukrainian military should remain at an inflated troop strength of 850,000, they are showing that they want to continue to abuse Ukraine as a staging area against Russia. According to the 28-point plan that could finally end the war in Ukraine, Ukraine would still have an army 8 times larger than Great Britain’s with 600,000 soldiers, which it cannot afford anyway and would have to continue to finance with European taxpayers’ money. Zelensky, Merz, Macron, and Stamer are thus pursuing policies that harm their own populations and the entire European continent, which they apparently want to ruin economically first and then turn into a battlefield. They are already responsible for the many deaths in this proxy war, which would have ended without their destructive interventions in negotiations since April 22!
The 28-point peace plan is criticized for favoring Russia, which it does in part because NATO has lost the war. The EU governments presented an illusory counterproposal that envisages Ukraine’s accession to NATO, security guarantees, no territorial concessions, and reparations payments by Russia. This would amount to Russia’s surrender and would be the first time in history that the defeated side (NATO/Ukraine) could dictate the terms of a peace agreement. The 28-point plan is indeed not very favorable for the EU, as it simply has to pay for everything, but with each passing day, the agreement will only get worse. Trump did not “betray” Ukraine—it was betrayed by the people who for years rejected every path to peace and insisted on fighting to the last Ukrainian.
It is forgotten/suppressed that NATO’s eastward expansion and the Kiev government’s war against the mainly Russian-speaking population in Donbass since the US coup in 2014 were the triggers for the escalation of the Ukraine war in February 22.
International law was first undermined by NATO countries and Israel (Serbia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon…). Russia also acted on the basis of R2P. Then the UN Charter was violated again by all Western countries when they refused to negotiate and thus resolve the conflict without violence.
Incidentally, anyone who talks about “sovereignty” should take the sovereign right of peoples to self-determination seriously and accept that no one in Donbass ever wants to belong to Ukraine again.
Many young people are critical of the planned reintroduction of military conscription and fear a return to compulsory military service in Germany. An alliance of various youth organisations is therefore calling for a school strike against compulsory military service on 5 December 2025, which we support. You can find more information here: https://schulstreikgegenwehrpflicht.com/ and here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRKATvIDStm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Here are a few recommended readings:
“At the latest since the beginning of the war of attrition, the realities should have been accepted and a serious peace process initiated that recognizes these realities. They did not want to do that, because they already knew that these realities left no room for the dreamt-of victory peace. Yes, they were “afraid of peace,” afraid of the moment when the self-deception would become apparent and the whole house of cards built on hollow platitudes of escapism would collapse.
Yes, “fear of peace” is a cynical, nasty term. But it perfectly describes what is currently going on in the minds of far too many politicians and editorial writers. They are afraid of a peace that would suddenly burst the rose-tinted bubbles of a “victory of good.” They are afraid of what comes next. They are afraid of reality, even away from the battlefields of Donbass.” Jens Berger
https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=142551&fbclid=
The Berliner Zeitung reveals a total failure with which the German government and the Europeans have maneuvered themselves into diplomatic isolation, leaving one simply speechless: (…) Observers see the role of Germany and its chancellor as particularly problematic: Russia explicitly sought contact with Berlin. Sources with direct knowledge report that the Russian negotiating team proactively tried to bring Germany to the table…. https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesellschaft/panik-in-berlin-hat-merz-ukraine-verhandlungen-verpennt-li.10006798?fbclid=
It is essential to expose the threat lie and the unfounded creation of an enemy image against Russia – one of the most important tasks of the peace movements. Our tasks continue to be to build Europe-wide networks and to counteract the prevailing war propaganda with information. The election of Catherine Connolly as President of the Irish Council gives us hope that if we are active, network, and support each other, we can stop the warmongers, end wars, and make our manifesto for peace a reality. https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=142305&fbclid=
An interesting article providing background information on our increasingly restricted horizons of opinion and information https://liber-net.org/germany/#deutsch
Renowned Russian political scientist and geopolitical expert Dmitri Trenin in an interview with Hintergrund magazine: “It is not a turning away from the West, but a turning away from the attempt to become the West.” https://www.hintergrund.de/politik/welt/will-berlin-rache-fuer-1945/?fbclid=
We find ourselves in an extremely dangerous situation, far too close to a nuclear Armageddon, which could be triggered, for example, by an attack on Russian soil using a long-range weapon system (such as Taurus) supplied by the West. That is reason enough to support the current peace plan, or any other peace plan, which must not be allowed to fail.
All the best wishes
Isabelle