Impotence, shamelessness and incapacity

We are not even two weeks into the war in Ukraine and despite it being unjust, undeclared and caused by the manias of a madman, the world has already thrown in the towel in the middle of the ring, thrown out the white flag and become a shameful spectator, to watch, from its armchair, the things, atrocities and miseries happen.

It is not because the US administration had not been announcing for months that this was coming. We didn't believe them or, worse, we thought they were exaggerating because their "provoked failures" in intelligence had led the world into a war without a real cause that could even minimally justify it.

We did not realise that, on that occasion, the chemical weapons in Iraq, it was in their interest to create the image and give the impression in a clear and obvious way so that their acts of occupation of that country would be more than necessary to avoid a greater evil, and no one could criticise them.

We all know that bad leaders or those whose incapacity is great and manifest try to influence their intelligence services to calm the spirits of the population or to support their wars or war postures in a blatant, false and very singular way.

Nor has Putin hidden from us at all his plan to invade Ukraine, and subject it to a massacre. A plan based on vile and execrable acts; on reasons that carry no weight whatsoever and which, however puerile and false, can easily be dismantled by anyone.

For years it has been eating up those parts of Ukraine and other territories around it that it most needs or wants on a whim or need, without the international community saying or doing anything to stop it in its tracks. Now, we justify ourselves and silence our consciences, saying and proclaiming that no one could have thought that, as the first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close, such a dreadful, dastardly and bloody action as this could happen.

Granted, every excuse is valid for a sore loser. But, if we analyse our recent and current steps, we see that the justifications, inventions and patches given on the fly are poor, unresolute and will not fix anything.

In NATO, the EU and many of their member countries, their national and collective security and defence measures and plans (Spain among them) have just been reviewed, without even contemplating the possibility of the slightest incident in that area, despite, as we can see today, how much its instability could affect us.

NATO was in a frenzy, discussing whether it was greyhounds or hounds, almost on the verge of disbanding and rubbing its hands together because its next summit - paid for by the organising country - was in Madrid and here, as everyone knows, it usually happens at these international jamborees at the taxpayer's expense that both a good time and a good meal are guaranteed.

Putin was playing cat and mouse, moving his forces at will and without rhyme or reason; saying that these were simple manoeuvres, when in reality they were acts of accumulation of means, training in live fire actions and psychological harassment of the Ukrainians without ceasing.

He was trying to frighten them, to lower their morale, to make their president-humorist piss his pants and run out of the country, where after a little blitzkrieg, with just four shots, he could again, as on previous occasions, set up a puppet government or simply, this time, annex their entire territory. 

Only Uncle Sam's Americans saw the move; but at their stubborn insistence, some Westerners began to laugh at it, considering it a very "unfounded and stubborn alarm", because the announced offensive did not take place and, on the contrary, the Russians showed the whole world certain troop movements, pretending that their soldiers were retreating and returning home after some exhausting manoeuvres, but nothing more.

The individual and collective intelligence of the EU, the OSCE, the UN and, above all, that of NATO, which is the organisation that has most to say about Europe's defence; for let us not forget, it is its very raison d'être and almost its only priority, failed.

Putin got tired of going round and round on the merry-go-round and, without declaring war on a neighbouring, democratic and sovereign country, launched a small offensive on it, which soon, contrary to the plans of his military staff, turned against him, so that those initial calculations and actions had to be changed.

In the face of such outrageousness and dastardliness, the UN showed its total and absolute impotence and incapacity, a massive body, which is here to prevent such illegal and cruel acts, only showed its incapacity, that it has feet of clay and hands tied by Russia and somewhat China; two countries that are part of its Security Council as permanent members, with the right to veto when it comes to voting.

NATO soon shielded itself from the fact that, according to its constitutional charter, it does not fight in areas that are not part of its Allies' interests or responsibilities, shamelessly and shamefully ignoring the years it has been deployed and fighting in Afghanistan, and its more or less prolonged and bloody interventions in places such as the Balkans and Iran.

The poor EU knows that this is not what it was created for, although with a certain Borrell at the helm it wants to play at being bigger; although it knows that the idea of being something better in matters of defence and security are expensive and, for the moment, rather idyllic dreams, which will only come true in many years or even never. So it has limited itself to playing the economic card to see if it can make a difference in this troubled sea.

China is expectant about the war scenario and is waiting to see what happens with Russia. As Russia's special military and economic ally, it does not want to get involved for the time being, unless circumstances force it to take part in a clear and unequivocal way, to lay its cards on the table and cannot hide them from us.

The economic restrictions we intend to impose on Russia and its leaders, while apparently strong and effective, are not so strong and effective in reality. The Russians have soon found various ways such as cryptocurrencies and other types of Chinese cards that join the European hypocrisy of continuing to pay for this inhuman war, because the massive and daily purchase of Russian oil, at this time, they have not yet decided to cut.

All that remains for us to do is to try him one day in absentia or in court as a war criminal for carrying out collective crimes against humanity; for invading a country without a prior declaration of war and for doing so with all viciousness, ferocity and irrationality. But that issue, I fear, is not something that the ruthless new tsar is overly concerned about.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainians are increasingly on their own, in a battle that, for the moment, is very much a case of a weak David against a strong Goliath; meanwhile, our European neighbours and friends from further afield are calming our consciences, sending them pistols, rifles, machine guns, the odd light missile, helmets, band-aids and compresses so that, with their own bodies, a people with little or no military training can try to stop a powerful war machine that, it is clear, is not going to let up until the final defeat or conquest.

Now, however, as part of our shamelessness, uselessness and inability to stop the tyrant and do anything worthwhile, we limit ourselves and prepare to receive the refugees who, by the millions, this conflict has provoked and who are fleeing in terror from a country, theirs, which a satrap, dictator and irrational dictator has decided to leave razed to the ground.  

We shall see how long this humanitarian feeling and current lasts; we have several examples of this close and present, which do not bode well for anything good and lasting, because we are prone to weariness and we soon look for ways to forget about them, however much we may now cry for their safety and act for their integrity.

Finally, I cannot close this work, which attempts to show the filth and weaknesses of international politics, without mentioning the shame I personally feel that there are ministers and parties in my government and parliament who publicly defend this massacre with impudence and impunity.