August 21, 2019

Erkki Bahovski in Postimees: Truisms of Realpolitik

The ideology has been overruled by realpolitik also after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, columnist and editor-in-chief of ICDS Diplomaatia magazine Erkki Bahovski writes in the Estonian daily Postimees on 21 August.

On 23 August, the 80th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (MRP) is commemorated. An atrocious treaty between two dictators that triggered World War II and which brought misery and doom to many Eastern Europeans, including Estonians.

Bahovski notes that it is understandable that the question arises as whether the ideology can be crushed by realpolitik also in the future.

“It can be argued whether value-based foreign policy is an ideology in the sense that we understood it during the time of the Soviet-era, but values ​​do not represent realpolitik. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that the West is still evading values, but a deal as big and frustrating as the MRP has not yet taken place (for the West, it would be more correct to speak of the Munich Treaty of 1938),” Bahovski writes. “The fundamental question is whether such a deal could ever take place again and what are the signs that could indicate a conclusion of such a deal,” he adds.

Read the full article in Estonian in Postimees.

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