Reality of war is hard to recognize for many in West

The speech of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in her country's parliament, where she clearly outlined her position on the need to support Ukraine, caused a great deal of resonance. It is good that she understands what exactly is happening in Ukraine, because some Western politicians still have big problems with this.

What could be simpler? Ukraine was attacked by Russia. It attacked for the most banal reason that has always existed. Because of the desire of one state to seize another. But the problem is that now, in the XXI century, there are many international documents that explicitly prohibit this, a bunch of organizations that are supposed to monitor this, but Russia just attacked.

Of course, they came up with a bunch of reasons why this had to happen, and this is nothing new either, because obviously, even in the days of the Sumerian kings, some 'reasons' were invented for war, although in reality the reason was solely the desire for conquest.

The problem for humanity is that Russia wants to bring everyone back to the dark and gloomy past of total lawlessness based solely on rule of force.

And this is not a 'territorial dispute,' as some American politicians are trying to prove to us, because there are no territorial disputes. The borders of Ukraine were recognized by all the countries of the world in 1991, and Russia itself was the first to do so. And this is not a case where you can pretend that you have a few fingers in your palm.

This is not Russia's confrontation with the 'West,' with NATO, with the United States, not a 'conflict,' but simply a conventional war of conquest in an effort to 'revise' history.

“I generally understand where the sentiments of some representatives of Western societies come from. And it's not just those who are somehow dependent on Russia. For many, it is simply difficult to recognize reality, and it is easier to reject it. It's hard to admit that the absolute evil they read about in their textbooks, the evil they watched in movies, is not an attribute of the past.”

I generally understand where the sentiments of some representatives of Western societies come from. And it's not just those who are somehow dependent on Russia. For many, it is simply difficult to recognize reality, and it is easier to reject it. It is difficult to recognize that the absolute evil they read about in their textbooks, the evil they watched in movies, is not an attribute of the past. It is part of our reality. It is next to us. It is alive, active, effective and dangerous. And it also has nuclear weapons.

Therefore, it is easier to convince ourselves that this is a 'conflict,' a 'territorial dispute,' a 'confrontation with the West.' And some politicians feel this and try to repeat it.

But this will not change the reality. Russia has started a war of aggression. A primitive war of aggression with the aim of capturing and annexing an entire state. Citizens of this state did not agree with this, fought back, and the invader was "offended" and unleashed terror. Thus, the war of aggression became a war for the existence of the Ukrainian people.

That is why numerous 'peacekeepers' along with one 'old man in white' from Rome should be silent and not try to put the victim and the aggressor on the same level, but simply think about what they can do personally to stop the aggression and make it impossible in the future.

And to do this, first of all, we should not try to reward the aggressor (and 'giving away territories' is precisely about rewarding the aggressor for aggression), but try to punish the aggressor.

“Numerous 'peacekeepers' along with one 'old man in white' from Rome should be silent and not try to put the victim and the aggressor on the same level, but simply think about what they can do personally to stop the aggression and make it impossible in the future. And to do this, first of all, we should not try to reward the aggressor (and 'giving away territories' is precisely about rewarding the aggressor for aggression), but try to punish the aggressor.”

And yes, the aggressor is not the abstract Putin, about whom it is not known for sure whether he is alive or not (and this does not matter), but the entire nation that gave birth to him. Who put into the minds of this very 'collective Putin' the idea that a war of conquest is the greatest good, it is a justification for everything, it is the path to history…

Some in the West stubbornly continue to call for not holding all Russians 'collectively responsible.' But they did it themselves. They took responsibility themselves, and they continue to do so. When they elected imperial bastards to power, when they joyfully welcomed the annexation of Crimea, which opened the door to this war, when they recruited for the front, when they swallowed all the Kremlin's propaganda. All of them who did this took responsibility. Not collective responsibility, but individual responsibility. And individually they must bear it. All those who are guilty. That is, almost all of them.

That is why, dear Europeans, there is a war going on now. A war that began as an attempt to conquer one nation by another, and continues as an attempt to destroy one nation by another. This is a crime in which the whole nation has signed, although only two of its 'prominent representatives' have been arrested so far. But everyone must be held accountable.

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About the author. Petro Oleshchuk, political scientist.

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