Remembering The Future: Moscow. Brussels. Washington. – OpEd

Man is what he thinks — Buddha.  

The future is all written in the actions we perform. Today, therefore it’s a memory. — Andarin

That the future can be a memory may seem a risky statement but nevertheless worth considering. There is no need to bother Nietzsche, with the philosophy of eternal return, or the writer Andarin where in the story “The Cat” he applies that theory, just look at diplomacy with careful eyes, because certainly the future is often remembered in the field of diplomacy. 

The future presents itself in the same way as in the past. And so it is enough to remember the future to avoid the mistakes of the present. Let’s take the example of the Russia-Ukraine war.

When NATO’s adventurous goal of bringing Ukraine under its aegis pushed Russia – rightly – to establish a red thread of security not to be crossed, and pushed  Russia – wrongly – to invade Ukraine (before doing so it should have called an international conference in which the absentees would prove them to be wrong), the memory of the imminent future – war in Europe,  discarded forever by the Mitterrand-Kohl agreement for the unification of Germany,  would perhaps have been useful to prevent tragedies. Even to the limit of nuclear war. And the danger once again was Europe. If we disregard the systematic and total genocide of all the “Indians” of America, all the other war tragedies, including the horrendous Jewish holocaust, started from European soil. The future, as a memory, would have prevented the senseless media criticism of Russia. Those who rely on force to assert their reasons are wrong, but those who refuse to listen to ignored proper security reasons are also wrong. 

A “future” within very close reach of memory, to be avoided in any way is Europe that allowed itself to be dragged into a war that had no reason to exist: It was enough to recall the commitments of the US Secretary of State Baker who in 1990 told Gorbachev that NATO would not move “not one inch eastward” in the context of discussions on future European security and the reunification of Germany. It is worth remembering that NATO’s move to the East was much more than an inch: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Finland. But Ukraine is in Russia’s “backyard”. and security in the backyeard when NATO territory is involved is not optional.

To this reference the future evoked as a reminder of Hitler’s appeasement of the Third Reich is utterly meaningless. Had Germany been surrounded by enemy armed forces as Russia was in fact with NATO expansion? So what is the point of making unreasonable comparisons? Russia is certainly not the Third Reich, it is not even worth affirming.

Europe has rather violated the whole intellectual Renaissance, the Enlightenment has been buried. In this eagerness to be more realistic than the King, Europe has decided to boicott not only Russian gas, the effect of which will be immediately seen on the bills of European families, but also to boycott Russian culture – a greater madness could not be invented!  Europe has even devised a new crime of opinion: “Putinism”, a ridiculous term adopted by those who did not want to let people reason to not even to peep out in other reasons. 

Now, fortunately, there is an American president who makes these considerations his own. Zelinski’s statement that he is willing to resign as long as Ukraine joins NATO when that is precisely the subject of war, is funny, to say the least. 

Trump is trying to end the most wrong of European wars, and we should be grateful to him, a war which is also the one that brought us closer to nuclear war by 10 seconds in Doomsday Watch, in which we are now 90 seconds away from Midnight forever! When all human being are exterminated.

In the frenzy of blaming Russia, it can be well said, Europe has lost the good of the intellect, which must be recovered quickly. And the media must help the process opening their columns to people who appreciate Trump’s new diplomatic course. 

But it is in diplomacy that it makes sense to think that the future is a memory. At the end of the Second World War, the mistake was made of dividing Europe into zones of influence. It was a very serious diplomatic mistake that has cost Russia a lot in terms of freedom as well. Now Moscow declares “no possibility of resuming dialogue with the EU”. We hope Russia does not make the same mistake made by the EU. 

The EU exists and it is useful for everyone that it is strong. There is no need to try to divide it internally. To avoid this, we need to start the strategy of “diplomacy that reminds us of the future”. No more war in Europe please.