Former presidents Bill Clinton (left) of the United States and Jacques Chirac (center) of France, and German chancellor Helmut Kohl (right) sign the Dayton Agreement in Paris, on December 14, 1995. [Michel Gangne/AP]
Hubris is the characteristic of demagogues and autocrats. Chaos, paralogism and the eclipsis of democracy should not become the antidote to political ethos, symmetry, logic and harmony. In the Bible’s, the Talmud’s and the Koran’s historic gaia, the oikos of the Israelis and the Palestinians, the ellipsis of anthropocentric policies and the catachresis of polemical rhetoric and practices, should not become the canon. Peace and empathy cannot be an anathema.
Tragedy and catastrophe prevail in the Ukrainian polis –martyrs of Mariupol, Kyiv, Kherson, Kharkiv and many others. Episodes of despotic apophasis and the antidrome to democracy. The pandect of Russia’s pathetic polemics result from monocratic and autocratic policies. They aim at expanding the spheres of energy, emporium and echo the geopolitics aiming at the dichotomy of Europe. Peace can be elliptic, shattered or glοοmy. Yet, “true peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” This is my preferred definition proposed by Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace is not the prologue or the epilogue to an armed conflict and should not be confronted to a truce or to a ceasefire. There is no genuine peace while your neighbor illegally occupies your territory or threatens you daily with the declaration of war (casus belli). Peace is based on international law and justice.
Therefore, peace cannot be limited to a ceasefire agreement between the aggressor and the aggressed. Ukraine should not be compelled by Kremlin or advised tomorrow by its Euro-Atlantic friends who today help them to preserve their territorial integrity to concede territory, sovereignty or its residuals. Such an “occupy my territory for peace” agreement exclusively rewards the aggressor. Yes to pragmatism, no to unprincipled docility. If defeatism, fatigue and docility prevail only a handful of states will feel and be secure.
Six points on the Western Balkans:
1. Notwithstanding gentle talk, our region will not look much different tomorrow unless a genuine sense of political accountability is developed. Politics is meant to serve, not the other way around. Change will require the eradication of unreliable and corrupted politics. Political egotism, nepotism and corruption adversely affect legitimate citizen aspirations and expectations. In some cases leaders appear to be failing their peoples, jeopardizing thus the European Union accession process.
2. An unprecedented population exodus – mostly of the young, educated, skillful and talented generation – from Western Balkan countries shows an alarming lack of confidence and trust. Those political leaders appealing to them to return back home are those who are mostly responsible and should be held accountable for this exodus, generally faced with fatalism and apathy.
3. The rule of law and independent judiciaries are needed as in much of the Western Balkans the courts are subject to political and partisan influence. In one case (Albania) a special anticorruption court was misused to persecute and sentence the elected ethnic minority mayor.
As long as the permanent members of Security Council are reluctant or unable to act as mandated by the charter, it will be impossible to prevent threats against peace
4. Today’s regional architecture is founded on a set of agreements and treaties – including the Dayton and Paris accords, the Ohrid and Prespa agreements and the arrangements between Belgrade and Pristina. Therefore, their systemic and systematic violation leads to crisis and potential instability.
5. Initiated by the June 2003 Thessaloniki Summit, the EU accession process offers the appropriate stick-and-carrot policy. Aristotle put it well in his “Nicomachean Ethics”: “Impose punishments and penalties upon malefactors and bestow honors on those doing fine actions.” Compliance to the conditionality will be rewarded. Any deviation will be reprimanded.
6. Fresh ideas and talk for new changes in borders in Southeast Europe, including territory and population swaps, will open the Pandora’s box in Europe. It will become pandemic. The bad precedent will become the prototype. It always starts from a known beginning but goes on with an unpredictable end. I am aware of arguments echoing that history recent or past and relevant agreements were unfair. This is exactly the “rationale” behind Mr Putin’s revisionist dogma and expansionism in Europe.
Border arrangements, territory and population swaps may not stand and may not be recognized unless they are: a) Proposed and approved by the United Nations Security Council; b) Take the shape of a multilateral treaty and are endorsed by the means of a relevant UNSC Resolution with the formal consent of directly interested and concerned parties.
Attachment to the principles and purposes enshrined in the United Nations Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and in the November 1990 Charter of Paris for a New Europe, adopted in the aftermath of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, has eroded. Restoring the international collective security system has a name: the United Nations. As long as the permanent members of Security Council are reluctant or unable to act as mandated by the charter, it will be impossible to prevent threats against peace, justice and stability. The Aristotelian metron and ethics are the antidote to hubris.
Alexandros P. Mallias is a former ambassador of Greece to Washington, Skopje and Tirana. The comment is based on his remarks at the relevant High-Level international conference organized by Greece’s Ministry of National Defense on November 28.