Bioetika i geopolitika - rat u Ukrajini kao povod

Abstract

The article mainly relies on original scientific papers, and reviews of a large number of bioethical works published from the end of the last century to the present day, but it primarily leans on the reviews, critical reflections and comments of the renowned Croatian philosopher Rade Kalanj. He rightfully warned some thirty years ago that biological and genetic research had reached a level ("a borderline situation"/Jaspers) where the question of the relationship between science and ethics is raised anew, but now in a much sharper and more radical form. Today, in light of the war in Ukraine, we would add: the relationship between bioethics and geopolitics. One of the severe consequences of the tragic events in Ukraine is the danger of exacerbating the already significant global hunger, in which, ultimately, it becomes less important whether food is natural/organic or GMO, but rather whether there is any food at all, primarily the grains. Or, on the contrary, there is an abundance of food, but only for those who have money to buy it, and their numbers are decreasing, so it remains to give them food. But in that case, the profits of global capitalism would be missing, which would certainly be unacceptable for the world's transnational elites and practically endanger the foundations of capitalism, marking the end of the global capitalist system/order. So, a major humanitarian catastrophe is looming, supplemented by millions of refugees, not only from Ukraine but also from around the world. This situation will be exacerbated by poor economic consequences, primarily for the EU and then for the whole world, all of which includes the UN and its specialised agencies, primarily UNHCR and UNESCO, in solving serious international problems, which certainly includes the issue of (un)acceptability of bioethical axioms for all civilisations and cultures. Among other things, the question arises as to who will be responsible/blamed for the global humanitarian catastrophe regarding the war in Ukraine: whether, as before, only Russia, or whether the list of accused will be expanded to include "Third World" countries, primarily China and Iran? Ahead of us lies a spectrum of bioethical questions, moral dilemmas, and temptations, especially when the existence of experimental biomedical laboratories on the territory of western Ukraine is revealed, reminiscent of the horrors of Nazi biomedical experiments in World War II.