To avoid finding itself in a difficult situation later on, Germany must return to a dialogue with Russia, Axel Schmidt-Gödelitz, an advisor at the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the GDR from 1976 to 1982, wrote in a guest column published Saturday in the Berliner Zeitung.
Titled “The War in Ukraine: Why Egon Bahr Would Have Sought Dialogue with Vladimir Putin,” the article stressed that Bahr’s thinking was based “on clear prerequisites for a peace-oriented policy…. First, the ability to shift perspectives; second, the systematic consideration of the other party’s interests; third, knowledge of their historical experiences; fourth, the consideration of cultural and emotional factors; and fifth, the establishment of verifiable confidence-building measures.”
