Articles by
Ralph Bosshard

The International Conference on Eurasian Security in Minsk is not quite as prominent as the Munich Security Conference, nor does it enjoy the media attention of its rival event in Bavaria. However, it takes place in a location where history has already been made, namely in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, where the Minsk Agreements were signed, which were supposed to end the Ukraine conflict. The fact that this did not happen was certainly due in part to some of the participants at the Munich Security Conference...

History teaches us that wars are rarely decided by individual battles, but rather by long-term, complex processes in which political, economic, and moral factors are just as decisive as military ones. However, the West continues to be strongly influenced by the dogma of the decisive battle, which dates back to the Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz. In contrast, Russia tends to follow the principle of strategic patience and war of attrition. These different ways of thinking are leading to mutual misunderstandings and misjudgments in the current conflict in Ukraine.