War. In Europe. I am sitting on Koh Samui, looking at the peacefully shimmering sea and I don't want to believe it.
There is war in Europe. Already for 12 days there is war in Europe. I have been speechless since the beginning of the war, and I still can't find the words to describe the nightmare that has befallen the people of Ukraine and the neighboring countries.
In liberal democratic Europe, a severely mentally disturbed lunatic afflicted with Little Man Syndrome has attacked a country and its people using massive military force without cause and in violation of international law and other binding agreements. A crazy maniac with fantasies of omnipotence and hegemony, who literally has the short one in an international dick contest, drives the population of a sovereign neighboring nation into terror and despair, just because he does not like the world view of the people of this country and does not want to grant these people their own will and the freedom of their decision. Where the hell are we?
An old and apparently senile man accompanied by other old senile men breaks the law, kills people, ignores human rights and, besides, oppresses in an inhuman way the population of the country whose government he has obtained by circumventing democratic processes through corruption and the use of brutal force. As if the population of Russia would be stupid and lawless slaves, who only for the increase of the wealth of the kleptocratic and billionaire gangster president and war criminal and his old cronies have to eke out their lawless and unfree existence in this by his incompetence completely underdeveloped giant country.
And what does the world do? First of all, nothing. In Ukraine, people are dying for their freedom, and the world watches apathetically for days, regretting the suffering, but keeping out of it for an agonizingly long time. How can we just stand by and watch? Probably because we have become used to it. It does not concern us directly. At least not yet. So, for the time being, we sit back and watch. Maybe it will soon be over. Meaning, maybe enough people in Ukraine will die quickly and the despot, after achieving his unspeakable goals, will leave the rest of the people in the then subjugated country alive as slaves under his bloodied thumb. Then we would all have been lucky. All except the Ukrainians.
Why are we so apathetic? Because we are afraid. The violent psychopath has proven many times that he is capable of ruthless violence at any time. And the Western world lets him have his way. The more violent a dictator, the more fearful others are and the greater his chance of getting away with it. Little Botox-Russian is not the first one to prove it.
How did it get this far? Because we allowed it to get this far. After Chechnya, Georgia, Syria and Crimea, it should have been clear to us and to the world that there was someone checking out the West and finding out what he would have to be prepared for in the event of further military escapades. Thanks to a worn out and now soon-to-be ex-Socialist and up to now the one and only gangster lobbyist and multimillionaire ex-Chancellor and other pro-dictator SPD members, we did not want to believe the danger emanating from this puffed-up gnome. And thanks to a former Lady Chancellor who ruled for sixteen years without any ideas and who ignored the threat like a rabbit in front of a snake, we wanted to believe in the success of diplomatic efforts that were demonstrably useless with dictators. We were all very hopeful and forgot that there is a principle that hope is not a strategy. Not in Greater Russia, not in Greater Byzantium, not in South America or in the Near and Middle East, and not in Asia or in the human-rights-denying empire of an old unbalanced center.
But we also have been very busy. We were busy with the further development of the indescribable bureaucracy at the EU as well as in Germany. Instead of developing the German Army, we first had a Christian Social neurotic with academic shortcomings abolish compulsory military service, and then a multiple mother with a medical degree let the German Army fall below the level of a banana republic with the help of consultants paid fees in the triple-digit millions. When soldiers must procure their equipment, such as helmets, protective vests, etc., privately at their own very high cost because their command does not see itself in a position to do so either in terms of costs or procurement procedures, we are shocked to learn where the indescribable incompetence of political leaders can take a country. The old woman, who speaks several languages and always takes care of her hairstyle, but who is otherwise completely out of her depth, now heads the EU as President of the Commission and gets screwed and bullshitted by dictators and despots. In face of her fuck-ups, she should shamefully sit down on a sofa somewhere aside - that's what she is familiar with - and let someone do the job who is capable of doing it.
Because we were so busy and stupid, the little dickhead from this too-big-for-him-country has now shown us ultimately and abundantly clear what he thinks of democracy, international law, the rule of law, human rights and ethical and moral sensitivities.
We are still afraid. Of course, we are afraid that this prick will cause a wildfire and raze Europe by nuclear destruction and force us into World War III.
Even if the lyrics of Sting's "Hope the Russians love their children too" regarding the war criminal's family reportedly living in Switzerland could give hope to some people - this is not a strategy.
What now? Self-appointed experts advise hybrid responses as a mix of military deterrence and economic strangulation. I have no idea. In any case, this requires a complete shift in thinking and decision-makers who are capable and willing to do so. We will see where they are to be found.
For the time being, we are afraid that we will soon be sitting in the cold because oil and gas will become more expensive if we stop funding the warmonger. Our economy will suffer, we will probably lose money, and our prosperity will settle at a lower level. We will get over that. The people in Ukraine would be happy with those options.
Besides, we are afraid of deterrence. The little sociopath from the East might feel provoked otherwise. That's what got us to where we are now. So, if we want a future that will restore a sense of freedom, peace, and safety, we need to build deterrence in Europe and achieve independence in many ways. Europe has that opportunity in comprehensive unity. Hopefully, we will seize it.
Until then, the people of Ukraine need our help and support. After that, we must extend this to the people of Russia. The people of both countries are fundamentally innocent. And all the stupid despot’s supporters should shut up and provide direct support instead.
And if shorty and his gang suddenly just weren't there anymore - that would be fantastic. Maybe that will happen. Best of luck.