For respective decades after planet War II, marked by an ideological confrontation between the blocks of East and West states, the discussions on global relations followed terms related to collective and cooperative security, peaceful coexistence and relaxation.
Post-war turbulence has led not only to the removal from political rhetoric of these concepts, but above all to an increased hazard of global conflict. The cold war climate is returning and with it warnings against planet War III.
The institutions liable for global safety gradually lost importance to the United States' hegemonic leadership. An example of degradation is the Organisation for safety and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has become an institution that presently does not meet any expectations related to the principles and objectives for which it was set up, even as a Conference during the period détente The 1970s. It is ironic that we are dealing with an atrape, a form without content. Her example confirms the old fact that the institutions last longer than the ideas that brought them to life.
What the OSCE was expected to be
The essence of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 was a affirmative political doctrine of filling cold war divisions, eliminating prejudices and perceptive errors, and accepting the coexistence of various political, economical and axiological systems. Although the West has never given up ideological crusades, for respective decades it has been possible to build a reasonably effective cooperation infrastructure based on the transparency and trust of the parties in the alleged large Europe, i.e. the geopolitical space from Vancouver to Vladivostok. Thanks to specified philosophy, the consequences of the dissolution of the russian Empire were not as dramatic as could be expected.
Unfortunately, after the end of the “cold war”, in a monocentric world, the OSCE institution lost its importance. The strategy of protecting itself under the “parasol” of the winner in the “cold war”, that is, under the protection of the US (bandwagoning), led to deep divisions within the organization. Under the influence of Western countries, they began to divide again, not merge, differentiate due to their systems and interests, alternatively than defend coexistence in diversity. Russia in Putin's day resisting the submission of American politics has become the main opponent and in time the opponent and enemy of the West. The enemination of global relations has returned to the agenda of global relations in a bright form.
Łódź defeat
The last gathering of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Łódź proves that the organization is simply a tool for stigmatizing, stigmatizing and intellectual force on Russia. Abuse of the host function by refusing visas to members of the Russian Duma at the Parliamentary Assembly in Warsaw at the end of November, and then the participation of the Russian abroad Minister in the Council's meeting, means the resignation of the existing consultative and coordination functions of this body. In 2022 the president of the OSCE, who was the Minister of abroad Affairs of Poland, and the full troika (previous – Sweden, present – Poland and future president – Northern Macedonia), became performers of the political will of Hegemon. This is the end of the lives of organizations whose time in the expression has passed.
Instead of mitigating contradictions and eliminating conflicts, the OSCE is simply a policy instrument for 1 of the parties to the confrontation. It contradicts the doctrine of coexistence and cooperative security. dialog and the pursuit of compromise, utilizing consensus procedures for reaching agreements, have been replaced by a stronger dictatorship. The function of neutral and uninvolved countries in the polarisation era has disappeared. The case of Finland is peculiarly sad. From a state with rich concilation, moderation and mediation traditions between different groups of states, it becomes a zealous believer in Atlantism.
The US has decided to take the North Atlantic Alliance over the OSCE. Its interventions in areas outside the borders casus foederis (the Treaty obligations on common assistance in the event of assault on any of the members of the alliance), for example against Yugoslavia in 1999, show not only that the principles of the United Nations Charter have been ignored, but besides that there is an extra-legal justification for the legality of force in global relations. All of this shows a crisis of global law and of institutions that uphold its validity.
The tragedy of Polish leadership...
In the OSCE, alternatively of promoting alternate ways of resolving disputes and breaking the deadlock – and this can only supply a neutral attitude towards the parties to the conflict – Polish politicians set out in a "retorious fight" against Russia, bidding on who is more zealous in following the Hegemon instructions. The Polish minister of abroad affairs is abroad to specified instruments as moderation (restraint, toning of emotions), facilitation (a correct explanation of the rules), autonomy (reproving each organization to halt fighting), conciliation (conciliation) and others. alternatively of taking advantage of the chance of an independent and constructive occurrence in the organization, Poland has stood up as Russia's chief prosecutor, wasting opportunities to facilitate the deescalation of the conflict. Unfortunately, she besides became a gravedigger of this well-deserved for the peaceful coexistence of the countries of the organization, eliminating in practice 1 of its crucial participants.
The request to exclude Russia from the OSCE appeared in various enunciations, specified as in a 10-point rescue plan Ukraine Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of late March 2022, eagerly supported by the Ukrainian authorities. However, all exclusions are counterproductive. They besides show limited sight of those who study them. It is not seen that Russia has different anti-Western roles in the countries of Central Asia, the South Caucasus and the Western Balkans beyond the war in Ukraine. This is why these areas are conflict-ogenic.
With the war in Ukraine and the fall of the OSCE, the pan-European order ended, based on multilateral guarantees of common trust and safety negotiated in the last 3 decades of the 20th century. United States announcing triumph in the “cold war” (according to president George H. W. Bush (seniors): “By the grace of God”), the key rule of “security indivisibility” in the OSCE/OSCE has been cancelled. On the another hand, the "swing equality" of states has been replaced by "swing inequality", as Washington and the another capitals of the Western states have begun to usurp the right to curate themselves towards the weaker and not necessarily yielding to Western states. This frequently meant open but hidden interference in interior affairs, overthrowing governments and subjugating the "new elite" under the pretext of promoting liberal values.
The essence of the fresh (un)order was to undermine the historically shaped "line of divisions" of interests, influences and responsibilities. The claim that only perfidious in its imperial appetites Russia had its spheres of influence has become the most bearable propaganda grip, directed at a revision of the existing position quo. However, it must be recalled that the structure of the global relations strategy is hierarchical. It is impossible to bridge the dependency of weaker countries from stronger countries due to the different powers of countries. The common treatment of states does not truly depend on formal rules, but on the power each of them generates in the arrangement of forces and on how far their visions of global governance differ. Thus, all power, as the United States, as China and Russia have a natural tendency to affect states addicted to each another in the field of their gravity and dominance, which creates a known phenomenon of satelliteization or clientelization around the country-polic. These processes are the basis for the existence of influence zones where hegemon's imposition of patterns of behaviour, even by coercion, importantly limits the independency and freedom of the weaker participants.
A fresh phenomenon accompanying globalisation is the peculiar "diffusion of power" in the global system. It involves recognising the powers of various non-state entities, especially large transnational corporations. They build zones of their exploitation, favoring in the final account the interests of the large powers. There is no uncertainty that in a globalised planet markets and countries request each other, but it is crucial to see that any countries themselves are creators of economical processes and others are only "victims". This is the essence of modern addictions and influences.
Ukrainian OSCE disaster
The war in Ukraine has turned all monitoring, reflection and disciplining the OSCE in the east of this country. She showed how an organization of 57 countries became an unfree tool in Western hands. The effectiveness in preventing conflict escalation has fallen to zero. The OSCE missions have mostly lost objectivity in the assessment of the situation. The blinding of the eyes to all deficiencies in Ukraine's system, including silent approval for the 2014 coup, shows bias and cognitive blindness. The silent support for Ukraine's reinforcement by the West and the ignoring of informing signals from Russia must have led to the organization's crisis. The failure to see the long-term process of dismantling the pan-European safety strategy led to a war disaster which was not needed by either organization and which could be prevented through diplomatic efforts. For this, however, political will was needed on the side of all conflicted parties.
After the outbreak of the war, Poland did not effort to exploit the experiences of the Tripartite Contact Group, which included representatives of Russia, Ukraine and separatist entities. After the break-up of the Group as a consequence of the Russian invasion, its president Mikko Kinnunen He wanted to proceed his mission, providing good services, specified as facilitating humanitarian access or exchanging prisoners. Poland as president of the OSCE did not agree to specified activity. The OSCE was besides not included in the talks between Kiev and Moscow in Istanbul in late March, nor in the negotiations in July 2022 which led to the conclusion of a grain agreement in the Black Sea region.
The war in Ukraine has damaged all OSCE missions – in Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Central Asia. The collapse of Russia's cooperation with the West in conflict management led to the paralysis of the full sphere of assurance building measures, which was the top accomplishment of the pan-European process. The organisation ceases to be competent to place its top management positions in a collision-free manner, to enact a budget and to renew the mandate of most field operations. If decisions are to come to a consensus, Russia's opposition will block any advancement in these matters. It is so a question of the West's misappropriation of the organization, which threatens to break it up, or hibernation for the duration of the war in Ukraine.
Interestingly, the most curious in continuing, or alternatively the vegetation of the OSCE, are diplomats residing in Vienna (where the seat of the organization is located), arguing that it is simply a unique diplomatic platform capable of restoring its dynamics and effectiveness. A revival of the organization would be possible if Western powers, especially the United States, were to decision distant from the most sheer issues. Their “missional internationalism” requires, as American political realists advise, restraint and prudence.
The withdrawal of the seats of the distant and non-conflict states with Russia would give the chance to set up an ad hoc group, composed of countries supporting North Macedonia, as the country holding the presidency in 2023. Macedonia is simply a peripheral state in the pan-European safety system, but could be supported by experienced states in balancing relations between the West and Russia – Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Initiative to end the war in Ukraine must include the conviction of Russia that it is about rebuilding a comprehensive safety strategy in East-West relations, not just rebuilding a fresh version of the "Anti-Russian Front". The West must take work for a fresh version of global governance, which does not focus solely on the safety of the states of the Council and qualitatively different from liberal democracy of political regimes.
What can be saved?
We must undoubtedly halt ideologicalizing the war in Ukraine. It is not a war to defend the full of Europe, much little the full Western civilization. specified a pragmatic position may aid to save the OSCE by sending signals that associate States do not want the effects of the war in Ukraine to jeopardise the organisation's actions elsewhere.
Since Estonia's presidency of the organisation in 2024, against which Russia objected in December 2021, any observers see a way out of the deadlock in Turkey's seat at the head of the OSCE after Macedonia. Given Ankara's mediation possible so far in talks between Kiev and Moscow, the OSCE under its leadership could play a creative function in restoring peace to the east of Europe. However, it is more likely that Turkey will play its position in its own account, so considering the function of OSCE in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is mostly speculative.
There is no uncertainty that decision-making inertia and deficiency of impartiality excluded the OSCE from the peace process. His main actors will be Western powers and Russia. At the most, the OSCE may participate in the control of the implementation process of agreements, the relief of post-conflict tensions and the restoration of average surviving conditions of civilians. Regardless of how the war ends, Ukraine will undergo a long recovery process in which measures tested by the OSCE in many areas will be useful. possibly the UN will set up peacekeeping operations to separate conflicting parties. Their support from the OSCE should then be obvious.
In 2025, the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Agreements, which created moral-political and strengthened the normative bases of governance in East-West relations, will expire. On this occasion, the president of Finland Sauli Nineistö, the countries that will then be chairing the OSCE proposed a high-level gathering in Helsinki, where the powers liable for peace and global safety would commit themselves to complying with common principles guaranteeing these values in the fresh era. Today, due to the ongoing war, specified ideas seem rather abstract. However, global policy is dynamic and variable. So 1 can always hope that political reason will at any point prevail over the vile instincts of irrational war.
Prof. Stanisław Bielen
photo of OSCE mission in Ukraine (wikipedia commons)
Think Poland, No. 51-52 (18-25.12.2022)
