In recent months, the notion that the European Union will soon be at war with Russia has been flaunted here in Italy, where I live, and elsewhere in Europe. Intellectuals and common people have started to react. This is frightening for Europeans, not just because it is unclear where the USA will position itself in such a scenario, but because the war would be waged on our land and cities.
For the first time in millennia, Europe has known 80 years of uninterrupted peace. I am willing to recognize that part of the prize for such idyll was paid by neocolonial policies in Africa, where raw materials are extracted and underpaid. But the fact remains that we grew up with the conviction that intercine strife was ended forever. The creation of the EU was the seal.
In the early 1990s, it seemed logical to welcome in the Russian Federation through a commercial and political treaty. NATO seemed obsolete, as Russia was reaching democratic viability. Instead, one by one, the countries bordering the Russian Federation joined NATO, effectively contributing to create the chokehold feeling that is prevalent now in Russian public opinion and is fueling their nationalism.
Historian Franco Barbero is saying that the situation reminds him too much of 1914, right before the start of WWI. Sociologist Alessandro Orsini keeps telling everybody that, from a geopolitical point of view, the Russian Federation has no interest in starting a war with the EU. But, historically, war frenzy has little to do with reason and much with distorted imagination, as well as with profiteers.
Russia does not need territory; there are no mineral resources in Europe to prey on, and the administration of subjugated European populations is not even thinkable. The argument in favor of the European rearmament is based solely on the notion that Putin is a bad guy. Surely he has transformed Russian democracy into a shell of itself. A man with no heart, he disposes of his political opponents without blinking. But attacking the EU would be suicidal.
Those who believe that Russia’s attack on Ukraine is the beginning of a further Russian expansion seem to be moved either by irrational fear or by economic interest. I said before that in international law two great principles are usually correlated when a major territorial dispute ensues: territorial integrity and self-determination. They can be conflicting, of course, and that is when diplomacy enters the fray. In the case of Ukraine, however, we have seen great emphasis on the first, and abandonment of the second.
Trump, of course, does what evil does. On one side, he forces his European allies to raise their weapons expenditure dramatically — giving a boost to American producers. On the other side, he is ready to abandon the Ukrainian population to the rigors of yet another war winter. Just like Putin, the man has no heart. Should Europeans buy into this Trumpian double-bind — Putin is a great danger, Putin is a good guy — and thus destroy themselves? Who is profiting from the debacle of the EU project of peace and prosperity?
The only major European country resisting Trump’s blackmail was the Spain of Pedro Sanchez — not by chance troubled now by many unexpected incidents. Every other government has accepted cutting expenditures for hospitals, schools, etc. to enter into a war economy.
The current situation in Poland is telling. On one side, those who don’t want war with Russia but are hard nationalists and anti-immigrants; on the other side, those who seem quite ready for the war, backed by the present EU establishment, and thus, on paper, the true democrats. I refuse to choose sides in this charade.
History teaches that modern wars start when the population has been convinced that war is inevitable, when weapons have been stockpiled, and when some kind of accident on some borders happens. I think that we should become really smart in understanding the vileness of evil. As a rule of thumb, evil is not any nation, any party, any individual. It takes hold of those entities and plays them to confuse everybody else.
Banner Image: Germany army tank participates in exercises, 2022. Photo by Rheinmetall Defence on Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Are you willing to let your political opinions change and become more complex? Are you willing to consider your deep reflections on politics as part and parcel of our spiritual call?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
TRUMP AND THE MAGA MOVEMENT AS ANTICHRIST: Recognizing the Archetype of Evil in Our Time
The Beloved Will Guide You: St. John of the Cross and the Triple Dark Night of Our Times
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest
Matthew Fox and Adam Bucko, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation
Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake, Natural Grace: Dialogues on creation, darkness, and the soul in spirituality and science
Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
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