Hugo Dionísio
For a regime that presents itself to Western nations as "the shield of democracies," it is ironic, if not tragic, that its own people do not feel aligned with such a "noble" mission.
For a regime that presents itself to Western nations as "the shield of democracies," it is ironic, if not tragic, that its own people do not feel aligned with such a "noble" mission. Indeed, there are signs that Ukrainians neither consider it noble nor desire such a mission, despite the enthusiasm of Western journalists and politicians.
When we watch news about the war in Ukraine and encounter journalists who, forgetting their role as informants, immediately shift to "counterarguments"-which is not their function-to challenge any more independent commentator, we are far from understanding the levels of suffering, despair, and immorality to which the Ukrainian people have been subjected over these hellish three years. During this time, the US, EU, NATO, and G7 decided to assign them an impossible mission: "to defend Western democracies against Putin's autocracy."
One might expect Ukrainians to feel flattered, even praised, for being chosen for such a lofty mission, especially when the assigners were none other than the self-proclaimed champions of transparency, civility, democracy, and respect for human rights. Over the three years of war, there was no shortage of street interviews in which carefully selected passersby declared their readiness for anything; nor was there a shortage of so-called journalists who praised the courage, fervor, and antagonism toward Russia, and especially toward Putin. Everything was shown to make it seem as though everyone was happy and committed. Europeans and Americans funded the war, other people's children fought it, and the children of those aspiring to join the Western garden were sent to the front under the auspices of von der Leyen's victory, the infantile Trumpist Mark Rutte, Baerbock, now Kallas, and formerly Borrell.
Until the news of forced conscription could no longer be contained, even outlets like The New York Times or The Guardian could not suppress it. After all, some were not so enchanted with the mission of defending others' freedom at the cost of their own tyranny. Images began to emerge of fathers, sons, brothers, young men, and adults resisting-heroically, madly, desperately-being sent to their deaths.
The images could no longer lie: men running over recruitment officers-at the risk of arrest and worse-others screaming while clinging to trees, traffic signs, or anything they could hold onto, desperate workers running through the streets shouting... In the end, one of two things must be true: either the promise of eternal freedom is not so thrilling, or the promise of eternal tyranny in case of military defeat is not so credible. The truth is that the abundance of cases-desperate mothers, women committing suicide, daughters protesting-began to suggest that, deep down, the Ukrainian soul may still belong to a peaceful people who never wanted any of this.
For Western media, nothing had changed, except that they stopped contradicting those who openly declared that Ukrainian men were no longer masters of their own lives. Not a single word, report, or statement. After all, what is happening to the Ukrainian people is not so different from what is happening elsewhere in the world.
If in Gaza and the West Bank a people is martyred, eliminated, in the name of defending Israel at the hands of a Zionist minority; in Ukraine, a people is martyred, forced to fight those they considered their brothers, with whom they lived and prospered (Soviet Ukraine was once the 10th-largest economy in the world), tyrannized by a Nazi-fascist minority, used and nurtured to defend "the democratic West." It all comes down to pure optics, to those who consider themselves superior and, by that superiority, believe they can instrumentalize the worst evils to achieve a supreme good that only a select few enjoy. Just as Zionists consider themselves superior to all other peoples, so too do Western globalists, imperialists, Atlanticists, and liberal-fascists consider themselves superior to the peoples of the Global South, Russians included.
The one who did not fail to identify this profound contradiction was the Russian Federation and its highest military ranks. And then the unexpected happened. After all that was said about the Russian Federation, after the charges brought against Vladimir Putin for genocide and crimes against humanity, after accusations of "imperialist" ambitions, the Ukrainian people began to look at the Russian Federation not as an invader, not as a destroyer, but as an ally-if not a savior, as in the case of Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
The decision to bomb "recruitment" centers-read "detention" centers-thus became a form of soft power in itself. With each destroyed center, Ukrainian voices rose in jubilation, as if turning despair into courage to say to their ally, "Yes, it is in you that I must place my hope." Social media was flooded with messages of gratitude to Russian forces, of sympathy for this unexpected "solidarity." It was as if, with each destroyed center, Ukrainians gained days of life, extending the hope that the war would truly end, and with it would come peace and the condemnation of the real culprits.
We will see where the aspirations of joining the EU stand after all this, but no matter how tactical this "alliance" may be-and in some cases, merely contextual-it carries a profound truth: even those who initially aligned with Russophobia, when trapped between an inexorably advancing front line and a rear guard of a West that refuses to disarm and maintains pressure to fulfill the mission entrusted to Zelensky, these Ukrainians can see no other ally but the supposed aggressor. This speaks volumes about their desperation. How can we expect Ukrainians, who seek aid and solidarity from the supposed invader, to later unite with those who condemned them to this thankless mission? Georgia has already shown what can happen.
Thus, there is an evolution, if not in minds, then at least in the outward expression of thought. This situation also suggests that the blackmail of a ceasefire-where the US, with the EU tethered on a leash, decided to design it alone and impose it on those winning the war-did not work as intended. It is not just the Ukrainian people's jubilation over the destruction of recruitment centers, but also the information they provide to Russian forces and the videos and photos they risk posting online, despite severe penalties.
If we add to these new allies those who never saw the "aggressor" as such, we can say that the cycle of this war is beginning to close. It is no coincidence that Nazi battalions and groups are calling for Ukrainians to be condemned as traitors. Yet it is clear that these "traitors" do not identify in the slightest with the betrayed. And that the aggressor appears more capable of saving them from war than the forces that were supposed to protect them from such an invasion. This contradiction says everything about this unjust and avoidable war.
A war that was always said to have been provoked by the US/NATO, fought against the will of the Ukrainian people, in which at least part of them did not see the Russian Federation as an aggressor, and which was always classified as impossible for Ukraine to win, now seems to be reaching its final chapter. This does not mean the mission of the Ukrainian people is over.
The mission of the Ukrainian people is not over, but it has profoundly changed. This sign of alliance with the Russian Federation regarding the destruction of recruitment centers shows that the Ukrainian people are beginning to see their mission as one of pacification with the supposed enemy and the creation of conditions for good neighborly relations once peace arrives. It also tells us that, in the end, it may not be so easy for Ukrainians to fall into such an ordeal again.
Therefore, this is a good omen and the announcement of the beginning of the end of the nightmare that turned the majority of the Ukrainian people into hostages of a paid gang tyrannizing them. Against all accusations, this alliance is only possible because:
The Russian Federation was never at war with the Ukrainian people, and the latter somehow recognizes this;
The way the Russian Federation conducted its designated "Special Military Operation" is the main reason why this alliance is now possible.
Otherwise, no people would forgive it, just as the Palestinians will never forgive the Zionists and their supporters, wherever they may be.