According to Spanish retired officers, West’s war with Russia is a “madness” and will lead the world to destruction.
Military in the West seem increasingly dissatisfied with the conflict in Ukraine. In a recent initiative taken by retired officers, members of the Spanish Armed Forces released a manifesto calling for the EU to stop sending weapons to Kiev. The military fear an unprecedented escalation of violence as a result of systematically sending aid to the Ukrainian government, which is why they are asking Europe to endorse a diplomatic solution, rather than fueling the “madness” of the war.
The document was signed by dozens of retired Spanish military personnel.
In the letter, they express their rejection against the Russian Federation and call Moscow’s special military operation an “aggression” – making it clear that the initiative did not come from pro-Russian activists, but actually from pro-Western military concerned about the level of the war. Also, as members of a European state’s armed forces, the officials call on the EU to become more diplomatic, mediating dialogue and seeking a peaceful solution through bilateral negotiations.
The manifesto is filled with a strong critical thought in relation to the US and NATO. According to the military, both are leading Europe towards its “self-destruction”, which they believe will consequently make “an uncontrollable situation that will end up putting life on the planet at risk” – considering the danger of nuclear escalation.
Quite pessimistically and realistically the military claim that if things continue as they are, the result will be a prolonged conflict, with the “children and grandchildren” of the current generation being sent to the battlefield. They even claim that this will be just a kind of “prelude” to a global holocaust, which is the final level of the confrontation between nuclear powers. This is why the authors call Western strategy “insane” and ask for an end to this “madness” soon.
It is interesting to see how this kind of anti-war mentality is starting to grow in NATO countries. Indeed, this is the natural result of the escalation process began by the Atlantic alliance itself. The more NATO is involved in the conflict, the more difficult it will be to avoid that in the future, after the failure of the aid policy, the organization be directly involved in an open confrontation with Russia, which would certainly lead to the use of nuclear weapons.
The reality of war begins to scare precisely those who really understand the topic – the military. Recently, it has been possible to see a pro-war enthusiasm among members of civil society, mainly politicians, media and liberal ideological militants, who support violence to dissuade Russia and oblige it to meet Western interests.
These sectors do not seem very concerned with the catastrophic effects of a total war, showing only interest in achieving their political and ideological objectives at any cost. The military, on the other hand, are more aware of what a war really is, which is why they are already beginning to show concern, asking for peaceful solutions to be sought to prevent the worst-case scenario from being reached.
However, unfortunately, the EU seems really willing to go the opposite way to that requested by the Spanish military. The bloc’s officials are highly committed to pro-war militancy and will certainly continue to do what they can to keep achieving higher levels of hostility, completely ignoring warnings about the dangers of a total escalation.
Evidence of this is that on June 10, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, gave an interview to The Straits Times stating that “peace” does not mean “not war”. According to him, the only peace that matters is the one that comes through a Ukrainian victory. Borrell made it clear that the war must continue until this result is achieved.
“(…) Everybody wants peace. Us too. And the ones who want peace the most are the Ukrainians. But what does peace mean? Peace is something more than “not war”. We should not confuse the terms. If I want to stop the war, I know how to do it very quickly, in one week. I stop supporting Ukraine, stop sending arms to Ukraine and the war will stop because Ukraine will have to surrender. Would that mean peace? No. Peace is something more. Peace means to recognize the right of Ukraine to exist, to respect international borders, to arrange for war reparations and accountability from Russia. I understand at the moment, it’s not very propitious for that because Russia wants to continue attacking Ukraine. So, yes, of course we want peace, but unhappily, we have to face a situation where the war will continue”, he said.
In other words, the High Representative endorsed the pro-war stance and ambition to defeat and humiliate Russia – despite disguising this with an alleged concern for the “respect for international borders”. It is precisely against this madness of trying to destroy Russia – the greatest nuclear power in the world – that the Spanish military are warning in their manifesto. And the answer to them seems to have already been given by the EU.
