72. Special Release: Wolfgang Sporrer - On diplomacy alongside combat operations in Ukraine

The Voices of War

My guest today is Wolfgang Sporrer who is an Adjunct Professor at the Hertie School in Berlin and who was until 2020 the head of the Human Dimension Department of the OSCE in Ukraine.

Wolfgang has joined me on the show twice before, where we discussed the lead-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as the ultimate reasons and consequences of Putin’s decision to go to war. You can find links to those episodes here and here.

He joins me today to discuss the importance of diplomacy occurring in parallel to the war effort. Some of the topics we covered are:

• Assessment of the current situation
• Peace process and combat operations not mutually exclusive
• Explaining mediation and different tracks
• Relevance of a Mutually Hurting Stalemate
• Appreciating the wide-ranging costs of the invasion
• Expanding already existing dialogue mechanisms
• Mediation must not have an end in mind
• An example process with two tracks
• German and Austrian sentiment towards the invasion
• Military effort along with diplomacy essential
• Focus on re-establishing European security architecture

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