Lead soldiers

Those toy soldiers made to last were constructed in iron moulds, filled with hot lead and then, when they cooled and were removed from the moulds, they were daubed with different colours, giving them form and meaning. They were a clear and effective precedent or substitute for what would come to replace them a few years later with plastic and much better with the first computer games or the world-famous PlayStation that have survived to this day.

Each kid became a field marshal and moved his troops, cannons and lead tanks as he pleased, facing each other endlessly and seeing how the side with the most troops or the best strategy finally emerged victorious.

Well, something similar is what the world and the so-called international community (IC) — mainly the EU, NATO, the UN and the USA — have been doing on the Ukrainian territory where troops from the two sides in contention (Russia and Ukraine) were handled and moved, supported - rather less than more - by a series of external actors, who believed or rather deluded themselves with the fact that, in their opinion, they were doing the right thing so that the conflict could not last any longer.

That Ukraine, with our support, would resist and that Russia, exhausted from so much effort and almost internationally isolated in its endeavours, would sooner or later end up succumbing. 

Days, weeks, months and even three years have passed and the conflict, with its ups and downs, is still going on in the same confines; some territorial gains and a few hundred thousand casualties on both sides. But it has only served to demonstrate what some of us ‘rash’ people made very clear in black and white from almost the beginning of the confrontation: Russia would end up winning, Ukraine would be forced to capitulate in disgrace and the IC as a whole, with some of its actors in particular, would be seen for what they truly are: useless, spoilt and ‘drinkers of wine’ that only serve to make an appearance, line their own pockets and try to sell products that are good for almost nothing, much less for winning a conflict like the present one with the significance and importance of the diverse media that have appeared on the scene or improved in recent times.

Irrefutable facts, which would be accelerated if Trump were to be re-elected in the US, win the elections and return to the international stage; but this time, with a greater knowledge of the real capacity of the actors on the stage, having memorised the lessons learned from previous conflicts and having no alliances and with the urgency of having to make the most of the possibilities offered by this second and final period of presidential rule. 

I would like to say that there are numerous occasions on which I have expressed this thought and forecast in writing on my blog, but above all, and so as not to tire you, I would recommend reviewing the following articles: 

As I predicted in both, the simple presence of Trump at the helm of the US has been enough for everything, absolutely everything, to change; but the reason for this is not due to readjustments in the personality of the American president, but to the fact that no one listened to him when he was warning of what could happen and he did so, moreover, in good time and repeatedly since the middle of his first term in office. 

Now everyone is tearing their hair out, protesting with a silent mouth or not listening to us (as is the case in Spain) and considering him crazy when he proposes and implements quick, simple and more economical solutions, however painful and harsh they may initially seem. 

The time of free milk powder, cheese and Coca Cola for Europe ended many years ago, but we have been resisting accepting it, while at the same time trying to fool the king of deception and deception. 

Trump is no longer willing to spend another dollar on a continent of lazy people who have been begging for security since the end of World War II without spending, proportionally, even half of what the rest of us would be entitled to. 

He knows how to deal with the most powerful and, above all, with those who really are powerful because he is not afraid of them at all, he treats them as equals and makes it very clear to them that whoever laughs, crumples up or protests is left out of the picture or goes to bed without dinner. This is why he has little or no faith in the mammoth, expensive and unresolved NATO in Brussels. An organisation that, in order to survive, has had to reinvent itself on several occasions to become a club for military cronies and high-ranking diplomats where they spend their time with very good salaries and little or no results. An alliance where it is very difficult to adopt quick and effective measures for the national interests of each member and because it has grown so large that it is impossible to govern. I wouldn't be surprised if, as such, its days were numbered or if its current format and composition were greatly reduced. 

He needs, with little effort and if possible with a few strokes of the pen, to clear the horizon, save on human resources and economise on national expenditure and efforts in order to dedicate them to its immediate security north and south of its borders and on its flanks, mainly in the Arctic. And, at the same time, to gain time for its logistical movements, mainly by sea, making them shorter and safer than until now. It has a great need for rare earths, oil and another series of raw materials that it will obtain as necessary, since it does not believe much in the prophets of doom who insist on the need to fight against what they claim influences climate change in an unparalleled way.

He is concerned about the Middle East, but less than many think because he knows that, with a little support for Israel, peace, his peace, in the area will be assured or at least sealed for a long time and his main enemies there will be wiped off the map in a few days. It doesn't mess around and in true imperialist style, it will run the world as it wishes and those others who aspire to be something in the international sphere, such as Russia and China or even India, will be able to play at being grown-ups, but they will have to follow in its wake because they still have a lot to learn and develop and, above all, they will have to act with great caution so as not to disturb its clumsy progress.

The poor and defenceless EU, exhausted by the absence of powerful leadership and political skills among its leaders and by wasting so much on things that are not very tangible or productive, but disarmed and without a clear and strong foreign policy, will become just another client, at the end of the queue behind those others that, due to their capacity for expansion, number of inhabitants and industrial possibilities, are of much more interest to him.

His famous phrase ‘Make America great again’ is not, as many think, a simple and easy electoral slogan; on the contrary, it is something he truly believes in and, the way things are going - in such a short space of time - I see it as very difficult or almost impossible for anything or anyone to be able to stop him.