I wrote this speech in 2022. Today, it feels like reality.
The war drums keep beating, but what are we really fighting for?
In the summer of 2022, I wrote a speech for one of the main characters in my novel. At the time, it was fiction; an exaggerated reflection of political decay, arrogance, and the blind march towards conflict.
Back then, Europe had just imposed its first rounds of sanctions, cut Russia off from SWIFT, and flooded Ukraine with weapons. There was no room for negotiation, no serious attempt at diplomacy. It was as if every possible bridge to a peaceful resolution had to be burned, as quickly as possible.
I watched it unfold with disbelief. Not because I doubted that Putin’s invasion was an act of aggression, but because of the sheer incompetence of the West’s response. The sanctions weren’t designed to bring Russia to the table. They were designed to provoke, to escalate. Cutting Russia off from SWIFT didn’t cripple its economy; it forced it into new alliances, pushing China and Russia closer together. The EU wasn’t isolating Putin… it was isolating itself.
And yet, the public swallowed the narrative whole:
“Putin wants to conquer Europe. He won’t stop at Ukraine. We must act before it’s too late.”
It made no sense. Why would a 72-year-old leader, in power for over two decades, suddenly decide he wanted to conquer Europe? Where was the proof? Where was the logic? But logic didn’t matter. The war drums were beating, and questioning the narrative made you a sympathizer.
Now, two years later, European politicians are openly calling for war. They speak of “total victory” and “defeating Russia once and for all,” as if this is a chess game they are in control of. But the same lack of self-awareness remains. No reflection, no strategy. Not even the means to back up their warmongering with action. Just escalation, over and over again.
This is the speech I wrote in 2022. It was meant as a warning. Now, it reads like a prophecy. You can find it in the fourth chapter of Coddled Children:
“Twenty-five years ago, the world shook, and what was once ours was reduced to a handful of square kilometers. Some say that war marked the beginning of the end for us. But the war against us had begun long before.
“We had paradise once. But instead of guarding it, we grew soft, complacent. We took our wealth for granted and lost our edge. So, we stood by as the borders opened, as strangers poured in and our communities crumbled. We stood by as soulless bureaucrats buried us under pointless laws to justify their useless jobs. We stood by as the government tightened its grip, stripping us of our self-reliance.
“And we stood by when they came for our culture, our traditions, tearing them down piece by piece. By the time poverty and despair forced us to see the truth, it was too late. They had taken everything.
“Fanatics always seek to bend the world to their will. They began throwing war rhetoric at nations where men still had a spine, posturing like rulers of a world that no longer feared them. They imposed sanctions the way a scolding mother snatches sweets from a disobedient child.
“They were fools. They actually believed that wagging a finger and saying ‘naughty, naughty’ would make the bad men fall to their knees and beg for forgiveness. And when that failed, they turned to weapons. And when that still didn’t give them the results they wanted, they started dropping bombs.”
The bigger picture: is this proxy war being used as a distraction from European decline?
We think we are witnessing a geopolitical struggle, but what if this war is a cover-up for something much bigger:
the collapse of Europe’s economic and societal foundations?
When leaders are unable to fix their own problems, they create external enemies. It is the oldest trick in the book. Europe is drowning in debt, industries are collapsing, and the middle class is being crushed under unsustainable policies. People are struggling, disillusioned, and losing trust in their governments. What better way to redirect their anger than by fueling a war?
Over a million people have died. But Europe wants more, flooding Ukraine with weapons and bombs in a war they can never win. Why would any sane person want to prolong a war that is unwinnable? Because war boosts the economy and GDP growth, masking the uncomfortable fact that Europe has not produced anything new in decades and that CO₂ budgets are not a sustainable business model!
And let's be real: If this war is truly about democracy, why is questioning it treated as betrayal? Blind obedience is what dictators demand, not democracies. If we are not even allowed to question, to form our own opinions, doesn’t that in itself undeniably prove we are being led astray?
In my third article on the knowledge crisis, The Fall of the Western Empire, I compared the current trajectory of Europe with that of Rome in its final days. Rome didn’t fall in a day. It fell over decades, as bureaucratic rot and arrogance blinded its leaders. In its final years, Rome justified its failures with endless wars, each one more desperate than the last.
It looks like Europe has forgotten and is repeating history once again. The only question is: how far will they go before they realize they can’t win? And when they do… will there be anything left to rebuild?
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