The French Revolution was a complex historical event, and its intellectual foundations were likewise complex. It is a mistake to reduce it to the Jacobin terror. It was a liberal revolution whose ideals sprang from the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition.
Inflation is profoundly socially unjust. Its causes lie above all in an expansionary monetary policy, and this must be stopped. If policymakers want to prevent the inevitable recession that will follow, they will only make the problems worse.
In Germany, there is a growing gap between the inflation of the state apparatus and its ability to fulfill its tasks. Politics suffers from political fantasies of omnipotence and constitutional ignorance. Who is to blame?
Since Putin’s war against Ukraine, the West once again has a clear enemy. Many now recall Carl Schmitt, who saw the essence of the political in the distinction between friend and enemy. But that is too simplistic.
Does trade among nations promote peace? The liberal-minded Enlightenment affirmed this under the phrase “doux commerce.” At present, however, we are witnessing how economically closely linked nations are at war with each other.
It is perfectly legitimate to point out the dangers of an uncontrolled escalation of the Ukraine war. Left-wing intellectuals who do so, however, have largely adopted Putin’s propagandist view. Behind it, however, lies a dangerous ideology.
An overview of Ukrainian history shows why the fight against the Russian aggressor is a matter of either supporting or not supporting the continued existence of Ukraine. The accusation that this is a form of genocide seems justified in this light.
