Eight months of heroic Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion

Yesterday marked eight months since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Against all odds, the Ukrainian people have admirably resisted the invaders, foiling Putin's plans to take over Ukraine and even recently launching a counteroffensive that is making the Russians withdraw from many places, suffering heavy casualties and heavy losses of military hardware.

At this point it is difficult to know how this war will end, but today there is no doubt that the courage and heroism of the Ukrainian people have made something that seemed stagnant in the heart of old Europe flourish: the idea that it is worth fighting and even risking your life to defend your Homeland and your Freedom against tyranny. The West has been immersed in a wave of hedonism for decades that seemed to have swallowed up the patriotism and heroism of yesteryear, those attitudes of courage that led many Europeans to fight Nazi tyranny and, later, to rise up against communist tyranny. Obviously, many Europeans, who feel a sincere love for our Homeland, see with natural sympathy that heroic Ukrainian resistance, an unequal struggle in which a people determined to defend their homeland is capable of stopping and even Repel a powerful invader in an unequal fight.

The small sacrifice of our word to support a just cause

Given the admirable Ukrainian patriotism, the complicit attitude of the western extreme left with the invaders was something predictable. After all, that end of the political map hates the West because it historically represents Christian values opposed to communism. Much stranger is the attitude of a certain right-wing, which is being dragged by the lies of Russian propaganda into an incomprehensible position according to which patriotism and the defense of the Fatherland against an invader are all very well , as long as the Ukrainians do not exercise them against the Russian invaders. The lies and excuses that have been used to justify Putin from a part of the right -very minority, it must be said- they provoke more embarrassment than anything else.

But I am not writing these lines to reflect on Putin fans. At this point I no longer intend to convince them of anything: it is a waste of time. My reflection is addressed to those many good people who sympathize with Ukraine but keep quiet, do not get involved in unpleasant discussions with the Kremlin propagandists who circulate tirelessly on social networks, and that makes them lose followers on Twitter or e Facebook, as if this were a tragedy. Are we not capable of making that small sacrifice with our voice and our word to defend a just cause, while the Ukrainians risk their lives?

The effects of the silence of many in the face of bullies

This attitude reminds me a lot of one that is repeated many times in schools: the attitude of those who see bullies harassing a child and that seems bad to them, but they do not intervene to avoid getting into trouble , since they believe that they could be the next to be harassed. If these abuses exist, it is not only because there are abusers, but also because of the attitude of those who prefer to do nothing. They do not realize that their silence is making it easier for other children to suffer this bad treatment, and one day it could happen to them, and they would find the same silent attitude from the rest.

The same thing happens with nations. If the international community had reacted more forcefully in 2014, when Russia seized Crimea by force and used its pro-Russian puppets to occupy part of the Donbas, this 2022 invasion might not be possible would have carried out, because Russia would already know the hight cost that it was going to have for it. But then we preferred to look the other way, and now we suffer the effects of our silence.

That silence is today one of the best allies of the Russian dictator

Keep in mind that if Russia wins this war, tomorrow the problem represented by its bullying will be even greater, and its effects for all Europeans will be even more difficult to combat, as happened in 1939, after that the West decided to let Hitler take over Austria and Czechoslovakia. As much as we try to ignore it, what happens around us affects us, and in a Europe subjugated by an unscrupulous thug like Putin, all Europeans would suffer the consequences, even those of us who live farthest from Russia .The best ally of the Russian dictator at the moment is not his propagandists, but "the appalling silence of the good people", because it serves his propagandists to exert pressure on our politicians in favor of the thesis of the Kremlin, with hardly any response.

We are not experiencing a new phenomenon. It is the same appalling silence that the communists took advantage of to take over Russia in 1917 and the nazis to take over Germany in 1933. It is high time that we learn something from history and avoid repeating it.

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Photo: Bumble Dee.