Woltron thinks outside the box

Europe before the war: the rift is getting deeper and deeper

The power of PR images: Annalena Baerbock stages herself in a glossy war image. Meanwhile, the tide has turned.(Bild: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picturedesk.com)

One person poses as a rough-and-tumble boxer, another sees Europe in a "pre-war state", and yet another stomps over rubble. The rift is getting deeper and deeper, power has long since shifted. It is not Russia, but the NATO states and their supporters who have maneuvered themselves into a hopeless predicament. Where will the tragedy in Ukraine lead? 

It is all too easy to overlook the forest for the trees when looking at the world situation. There is a simple recipe to counter this: use the telescope of research upside down. Suddenly, a disturbing overall picture emerges from the reduced tangle of details: The global balance of power has made a leap from West to East.