Conflict with Russia: Is this going to go on forever?

Germany’s response to the attempted attack in Leipzig has moved beyond a conventional security question. It has also exposed a psychological and political challenge that is harder to define.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the people involved had acted “on behalf of Russian state agencies.” The government then concluded that Russia was responsible for the hybrid attack in Leipzig on Aug. 4 and announced, among other measures, the closure of Russia’s consulate general in Bonn.

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on behalf of Russian state agencies

Yet the article argues that the nature of hybrid warfare makes clear-cut answers difficult. People want firm boundaries and an unambiguous explanation of who is responsible. The reality, it says, demands that Germans adopt a paradoxical stance toward a threat that remains latent while still requiring a response.

The questions are both political and psychological: why is Russia’s hybrid war so difficult to grasp, and how should the state and society react? The article’s answer begins with an uncomfortable assessment: “Unfortunately, yes,” the conflict may continue indefinitely. The challenge is not simply to identify an adversary, but to live with uncertainty without treating the threat as either imaginary or fully visible.

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Unfortunately, yes.