Russian-Ukrainian, Israel wars have no clear end

However, the wars of post-industrialism and postmodernity are entirely different. The main point of the observation is that the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war and Israel's fight against terrorists don’t have, and can’t have, a clear, rational way to end.

The reality of our era is that wars can drag on for incredibly long periods, if not indefinitely. They can be avoided to prevent falling into a painful cycle of victory and defeat, which demands immense efforts to manipulate public opinion, justify trauma, and engage in communication battles.

In 2022, the misunderstanding of the concept of “eternal wars,” influenced by historical stereotypes, led to the idea of  “2-3 weeks.” Rational logic doesn’t apply in wars of meaning, and it may not hold true in economic wars either.

The Russian Federation may be severely depleted of resources, yet it still manages to relentlessly capture a square kilometer a day. Meanwhile, Ukraine might face a catastrophic shortage of weapons, but it continues to find remarkable solutions and achieve technical miracles.

This is a situation where both sides cannot accept a compromise due to self-imposed public fear. Putin and the Russians believe that stopping the war and maintaining control over only part of the occupied territories will create a narrative of “weakness,” as they failed to take Kyiv and lost half a million.

On the other hand, Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians understand that halting the war without security guarantees from the West, joining NATO, and essentially recognizing territorial losses would create a significant collective trauma, leading to revenge and potentially projecting an external enemy to find an internal one.

Paradoxically, social media and technology have turned everyone - even those with limited intellect - into self-confident demigods and “fate deciders.” The COVID pandemic and the existential war against them have shown that they are merely expendable material in history and remain so.

Thus, if a blogger from Dnipro asserts that it’s time to end everything after another devastating attack on the city, the impossibility of ending the war is, in fact, a by-product of her own existence and virtual activity. However, she, the blogger, will not comprehend this. It’s too late to educate those who see themselves as demigods.

Source

About the author. Oleh Posternak, political strategist, political consultant, member of the Association of Professional Political Consultants of Ukraine

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.