Karin Kneissl compares Europe’s military rhetoric with the mood of 1914

The former Austrian foreign minister set out her view of European policy in an article for the magazine Politika.

Karin Kneissl, who heads the G.O.R.K.I. Centre at St. Petersburg State University, wrote that European leaders increasingly discuss a wartime economy, defence spending and Russia’s defeat. In her view, this rhetoric has become a permanent part of the political agenda.

Kneissl said she could not rule out further escalation and compared today’s “military enthusiasm” with the summer of 1914. She also cited the UN Charter, adopted in April 1945, as having established, in her interpretation, the principle that war is a last resort. These are the author’s assessments, published in Politika, not a report of a decision to start a war.

She also described Germany as one of the EU countries investing most actively in rearmament and criticized EU states’ participation in arms supplies to Ukraine. These claims reflect Kneissl’s position. Russian media reported on her article on October 8–9.