“We think too much
and we feel very little.
We need more humility
than machines. More kindness and tenderness
than intelligence. Without this,
life will become violent
and everything will be lost.”
Charles Chaplin – The Great Dictator
Almost in complete contrast, I leave here what has become an almost habitual disclaimer: I strictly understand nothing about geopolitics – in fact, neither geography, nor politics, and, even less, the art of war, whatever level it may be. I also never thought – and still don’t think – that the means justify all means.
I realize, however, that the death of innocent people, as has often happened, in the face of our air of total indifference, under the mere aegis that the regime in which they lived was contrary to the values we defend, is not a cause that I can embrace.
There is no question of repudiation of the regime that still prevails in Iran, in fact quite similar to that of other countries that did not deserve – and will not deserve, for obviously opportunistic reasons – the same reaction.
Disagreeing with any totalitarian regime is quite different from deposing it, at any cost and in contravention of international rules. Disagreeing with a totalitarian regime is also quite different from uncritically killing people and stealing spoils, as Trump has admittedly wished, who, what’s more, claims to believe he deserves to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The same Trump who, during his election campaign, stated that he only intended to “America first” and guaranteed not to start any conflict, on the contrary, he would end them all.
Far from all this being a joke, after having guaranteed that the war between Russia and Ukraine could be ended within a week and that it remained unchanged, Trump and his limited company decided to start others, using exactly the same tactics as Putin, that is, not calling by name what it actually is: war. In fact, to be less shocking, euphemism is used and victims are served by the handful, between one bite and another, at dinner, in each News.
This has long been a process of trivializing evil that usually precedes even darker times. We have become accustomed to seeing violence as a matter of course, as if those who start these conflicts really care about the population and not just the loot, as happened with pirates.
By way of mere examples: a) someone has seen identical energy with what is happening in Sudan, or the circumstance of not having oil or precious metals reduces the energy of those who claim to want to save the world and direct it to places where they can profit; b) has anyone seen real humanitarian aid in Mozambique or, why not, in Afghanistan, a country in which a prolonged war has brought nothing useful to the population.
The question that must be asked regarding all these operations or interventions or, more rigorously, the killing of unsavory people, but also of thousands of innocent people, is who gained from them. And the answer does not even cover the population.
Meanwhile, Portugal allowed the use of the Lajes Base for part of the so-called “operation”, without having clearly clarified in what form and with what foundations of International Law, bowing to the interests of third parties, possibly in the mere expectation of giving it some crumbs, without even being asked to answer whether we are willing to enter one of the sides of a barricade that does not belong to us.
For my part, I leave you with the challenge of giving me a thorough explanation about how we ended up involved, this time directly, in a new illegal operation and whether we can now throw all the rules of International Law in the trash. That, my dears, is what has been happening. The day we normalize evil, we become the same as those we fight against. It is important not to forget this.
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