Europe has become a continent of folly, corruption and dangerous delusions.

In the recent months we have seen worrying and sometimes outrageous developments taking place in Europe, regarding the war in Ukraine.

Europe refuses to accept that this war is unwinnable and insists on keep throwing billions into it, while the US under President Trump is showing signs of caution and efforts to end this conflict, perhaps to the detriment of Ukraine. European politicians deny as usual to listen to their citizens, which are now increasingly sceptical of this war's direction and outcome, plus fearful of further escalation to an generalized warfare between Europe (with or without the US) and Russia.

As always, European leaders, media and the EU leadership under Von der Leyen won't listen to anything else, but the continuation of the support and thus, the perpetuation of this conflict. One after the other, our leaders are using Russia as a boogeyman to explain to us the need of spending billions of our money for the continuation of this conflict. The NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, warned us that " Russia could attack Nato within five years", while British Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, claimed that "British families must be prepared to send their sons and daughters to war against Russia".

Yet, they were only two of Europeans that made such statements, others from across our continent also joined in to this farsical theatre, while USA is seemingly the only Western country willing to still negotiate with the Russians. However, it is dawning on Europe now, that "Europe will need to engage with Putin if US peace talks fail", as French President Emmanuel Macron admitted last week , during a press conference of a European Union leaders' summit, in Brussels, Belgium. Well, it better not be him again leading the negotiations, because it was Mr Macron who called Vladimir Putin three days before the Russian invasion which ended up in disaster, and every attempt of these two solving their differences ever since, failed to produced any results.

In contrast, Russia's President Vladimir Putin in a recent statement from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, branded fears that Moscow is planning to invade another European nation as ‘ridiculous’ and ‘complete nonsense’. To be honest, one minute Europeans mock Russia for failing to take Ukraine after three years of war, but now they are scaremongering us that they will attack the whole of Europe (and thus NATO), which will result to an all out war between Europe and Russia. Such an outcome and without the full commitment of USA, since under Trump it is doubtful if America will participate actively in this war, would be disastrous for our continent. The Americans most likely will wait it out and resolve on selling weaponry to an ever indebted Europe, and only when we are on our knees they will decide to step in, to make sure we are once more for ever relying on them for funds, weapons and "protection".

In their desperation to find resources and funds to continuing their support for Ukraine, EU leaders were engaging in weeks long debates and diplomatic activity, to use billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to help cover Ukraine’s war needs over the next two years. But Belgium pushed back and eventually managed to block such plan, arguing that the plan carries legal and financial risks that it fears it could end up shouldering alone. And it has every right to do so, as if things turn sour, Belgium would indeed be the country that payed the highest price.

Belgium worries that Euroclear – the Brussels-based financial clearing house that holds the bulk of the frozen Russian assets – could end up entangled in damaging litigation if Russia challenges the EU decision. Besides, it is not as if the EU would just grab and take Russian money from Belgium, but they would rather get a loan on these assets, to be used for supporting Ukraine. But who would end up paying, if Russia succeeded in challenging successfully such move? We, the European citizens would of course. The worse affected country would be Belgium, however the bill would be footed by tax payers money once again, to limit the total financial catastrophe of Belgium, a key EU member state.

Naturally, as we are well used in Europe, double standards came into play once again. Nobody called for sanctions against Belgium, for the country to "be kicked out of the EU", or for funds to be withheld from the Belgians, like they did with Hungary and Slovakia on numerous occasions; simply because they were safeguarding their own national interests. The two Visegrad nations, have jointly blocked the adoption of the European Union’s 18th sanctions package, aimed at further punishing Russia. The decision was a direct response to Brussels’ proposal to ban the import of cheap Russian oil and gas, a move that would severely harm the two nations' energy security and potentially double or triple utility costs for households.

Where is the difference to what these two were doing back then, from what is Belgium doing now? You cannot cut off ties with Russian energy products just like that, this takes years in preparation and a more step-by-step approach, however the EU wants its member states to achieve this in a few years, no matter how much this actually hurts Europe's own interests. Just as you cannot take a risk such a Belgium was asked to take, which could severly affect your economy.

Instead, what we got now is an agreement on a 90 billion loan to Ukraine, which will be placed on who? You've guessed it, each and one of us will have to to pay it off eventually. And do they ask us if we consent to this? Our economies are already suffering, but hey, according to our media the Russians are suffering more, so we got to beat them to it and keep going. They want to bring Ukraine in EU as soon as possible, even though we do not even know its final borders at this stage, and they blast Hungary for refusing and it is quite frankly, the most reasonable nation in EU right now. Ukraine was not ready to join the EU before the war, it is surely less ready to do so now.

Some countries however, like the United Kingdom found a new way to raise funds for this war; by forcing ex-Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to release £2.5 billion for Ukraine. Britain aparently is giving the Russian "oligarch" a final chance to give Ukraine the funds, from the sale of top English soccer team Chelsea or face potential legal action. Abramovich has previously sought more flexibility and said he wants the money to go to all victims. He has 90 days to act under the terms of the government's new license.

In other words, either is Abramovich in favor of the invasion conducted by his own country against Ukraine or not, he will have to pay for it just because... he is Russian and rich! That level of desperation by the EU and European governments, indicate that it is Europe that is in fact in trouble and not America or Russia. The sense of emergency and illogical approaches, often illegal, always indicate who is acting out of need or fear.

And all that, while the US is brewing yet another conflict in Latin America, as if the American and European tax payers having to pay for one war is not bad enough; never mind the ever growing threat of an all-out war in our world, which comes closer to reality the more the Ukraine conflict lingers on.

Apparently the US has seized recently a second sanctioned vessel in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. The move comes after US President Donald Trump ordered a "blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving the country. Venezuela has previously accused Washington of seeking to steal its oil resources. In recent weeks, the US has been building up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea and has carried out deadly strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling boats, killing around 100 people. The US has provided no public evidence that these vessels were carrying drugs, and the military has come under increasing scrutiny from Congress over the strikes.

Why are we getting a deja-vu feeling here? America lying or not being clear of his actions and military operations. Are they preparing another war or invasion? Most likely. US President Donald Trump stated recently that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's days "are numbered". Now imagine if Russia every made such statements. Imagine if any other nation across the globe, so blatantly made threats to overthrow another nation's leader, without the full support of that country's people. However Europe seems unbothered by such actions and are solely focusing on punishing Russia.

If we ever going to be taken seriously on global affairs, we cannot seem to be a US puppet. Not that we are not by this stage, but if we always turn a blind eye on one nation's actions, while we are outraged so much by another's that we are willing to shoot our own foot, in order to massage our self perceived higher sense of morality, can this really do us any favors in the long term? Our leaders seem to huff and puff about Russia's actions, but when America is being the bully they seem unbothered. Despite that in the recent years the American leadership under Trump, is constantly undermining and redefining the Trans-Atlantic relations and traditional alliance.

Not that we are not used to European and Western hypocricy; in a recent scandal in Italy, wealthy foreigners paid £80k to shoot civilians in besieged Sarajevo, Italian prosecutors claim. They are examining allegations that during the 1990s, far-right extremists and gun enthusiasts from Italy, the United States, Russia and other countries travelled to Bosnia and paid Serbian forces to let them fire at city residents as a form of “war tourism”.

Additionally,a British journalist has alleged that while travelling through conflict zones over the past two decades, he was offered the opportunity to shoot civilians, describing the practice as neither “dark tourism” nor adventurism, but “murder”. Andrew Drury, has spent years travelling through some of the world’s most dangerous regions, including Somalia, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Iraq.

So while the West is scolding others on human rights, while they punished Serbia for the massacres in Bosnia, as they tarnished the country's reputation for ever, wealthy Westerners participated in such attrocities and they will never be brought to justice for hunting humans like animals. Surely this was known in some political or journalistic circles in Europe and America long ago, but it was easier to use the human suffering that people known to them inflicted onto the people of these regions to promote their desirable agenda. Plus, surely this is still happening today in Ukraine and Palestine too- you do the maths. I am sure that many of the ills that are inflicted upon regions of this world throughout our modern history, are initiated, perpetuated, exploited by the wealthy of this planet, to the detriment of humanity's dignity and unity.

The hypocrisy, corruption and utter lunacy that prevails in our world is sickening and desperate at this stage. However this is only an indicator of a "dying beast", which clings to life by roaring the loudest at its end of days. This beast is the mighty Western hegemony that ruled this world for centuries. America may come out of this political, economic, moral and societal crisis we are going through, in a better state than Europe, as they managed to dominate our continent since WW2. But for Europe I am afraid, this could be a definitive moment and we are edging towards the point of no return.

Our leaders are blinded by power mongering, refusing to accept reality or listen to the needs of their citizens, desperate to keep face as they frolic their inflatable egos and sense of a higher morality and they will destroy Europe in the end. The question is now what will we, the citizens of Europe do to prevent this?

Trump and Putin humiliate Europe in Alaska.

During the recent meeting in Alaska between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, it was strikingly obvious that Europe was sidelined... again! Despite European tax payers having to see billions of their taxes being spend in support of Ukraine, plus all the sanctions, rhetoric, fear and war mongering they had to endure by their leaders and elites, no single European leader, not even Zelensky himself was invited to participate in this meeting, regarding the conflict in his own country.

The two statesmen decided to discuss, albeit not coming to an agreement just yet, the future of Ukraine and the outcome of this war. Important European heads of state, members of the NATO alliance, a military block which Ukraine is aspiring to join and which all the fuss is allegedly about, were publicly left out and shunned, regardless the calls from EU and Ukrainian leaders, that "no decision for Ukraine, without Ukraine". Wow!

What one could make from all this, is that firstly Europe needs to wake up. We got leaders not fit for purpose and they are leading us based not on realpolitik and in sync with the new reality the world is heading towards to, but they are still stuck in post WW2 rhetorics and outdated ideologies. They regurgitate the same nonsense which kept our continent stuck to the hip of USA for the past decades, when even the US leadership itself is turning away from them lately. The ever sacred Euro-Atlantic alliance is no more.

... If it ever was in reality. European leaders were so used to bow their heads to the US "saviors" and getting rewarded for it with political careers in their countries, or EU and NATO institutions. They were happy to let America pay for European defense, while they sold out our banks, industries and even our land and culture to the highest bidder in exchange. All in the name of this sacred "alliance". However, no matter how much Europe hopped on one foot to satisfy US demands, it did not spare it from Trump's recent trade war and tariffs, did it?

And while Europeans are stuck in their morals, ethics and ideologies about international law- no matter how many times they, while following their US overlords had to break it, the new US leadership goes and gives them a good slap in the face and shows them that in the end, they again have the last say; despite the fact that Europeans made equal amount of sacrifices to support Ukraine, if not more, since our contributions to this conflict surpass those of USA.

Not to mention poor Ukraine, whose population is being sacrified on the chess board between USA and Russia, their country ravaged and destroyed and only Putin is blamed by our media, not the West itself, whose interests are also damaging the country and perpetuating this war, to the detriment of everyone. And when anyone- like myself- dared ever to state that this war is not winnable and that we should negotiate and compromise in order to avoid further escalation of this conflict, or further destruction of Ukraine, we were branded by many as "Putinists" and "Russian trolls".

Well, there you have it now, a US President trying to end this conflict without Europe, giving leverage to Putin by rolling the red carpet to him in Alaska and signaling a turn in American interests. The world is changing, BRICS are expanding, dedollarisation is in full swing and yes, if America wants to stay relevant it needs to negotiate, be flexible and adjust to the new realities. The problem is when will Europe do the same?

We are heading towards a multipolar world, when new alliances and economic, military and political realities will emerge, so our continent must adapt accordingly. Instead of sticking to the past sense of grandiose of dominance, decision making based on ideologies and a moral compass which is against some "aggressors" or "dictators", while is very happy to do business with some others because it suits our interests, we better do what America itself under Trump is doing and start playing ball with everyone.

Ukraine's war was always about its resources, the wealth that comes with it and power. It was never about NATO membership, democracy, freedom and all the other sentimental mumbo-jumbo our leaders are spewing to their feeble voters. It can never be won by Ukraine alone, not unless USA and Europe go to war with Russia, which is something nobody wants (and hopefully will never do), as it would certainly be the start if WW3. Because in their ultimate wisdom, Western leaders managed to unite Iran, China, North Korea and Russia, all nuclear powers and with anti-Western sentiments, due to their recent policies and decisions, like allowing Israel to attack Iran with its missiles, plus the long-standing US bras-de-fer with China in the South China Sea and ongoing trade war.

And sadly for Ukraine, it has to learn a bitter lesson; if you rely on anyone for your defense, either you got a choice or not, you are also a waif at the mercy of their interests. This was made clear with Zelensky's humiliation in the White House by Trump, back in February 2025. In addition, it was only a matter of time before US and European voters would start being tired of paying for an unwinnable conflict, or as it usually happens, leadership changes, new economic and political realities, or simply plain interests from the start, which required a country to be in desperate need, so that it can be in debt to the West forever, sealed its fate; to be in a double edged sword situation, either they do as they Westerners say, or they risk to lose even more land to Russia. The West has played this game many times before, in the Balkans and Greece for example. The approximately 250 billion dollars that the West has already spent in Ukraine so far, are not terms and conditions free, Ukraine will be in dept to Western nations for generations to come.

And whatever one has to say about Trump as a person or a leader, no one can deny at this stage that diplomacy is the way forward to end this disastrous conflict; not more armaments, rhetorics, blame game, propaganda and sanctions- which haven't worked deterring Russia from gaining even more ground latelly in Ukraine. The only problem is, that Europeans are stuck in their narrow mindedness, corruption, idealism and perceived moral superiority, that even their revered US elites are lately turning away from them and choose diplomacy with Putin, allowing him to land on American soil for negotiations, despite an existing International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him since 2023.

Will Europeans choose to carry the can of supporting Ukraine by themselves from now on, or will they lose face and accept the new reality? My bet is that they will opt for the first option, judging from their staunch and rigid approach in this conflict from the start. What will they say to their voters, how can they save face and their cherished political careers, when for years were acting with no consent by the European citizens, terrorising them that if Russia wins then they will attack Europe next and conquer it all the way to Lisbon, when the Russians clearly cannot- or have no interest in taking the whole of Ukraine, just to funnel billions of tax payers money to fund this war?

And they will keep up with this fantasy even when it is clear that Russia is winning, nobody in Europe and America is actually willing to send troops to Ukraine and go to war with Russia- so all we are achieving is hurting our own economies, risking a greater conflict, destroying Ukraine for generations to come, benefiting the Western arms industries which are the only ones gaining from this war, submitting our continent ever more to US interests and economy, while ridiculing ourselves and any aspirations we ever had for Europe to become a strong political global player, with a significant voice and influence in the world. Well, Trump and Putin just bursted that bubble and while there is no surprise from the Russians, when will it sink in that our "cousins" the Americans have not our best interests at heart, nor any respect for our continent and especially our leaders, who see as irrelevant to this war at this stage?

photo credit Katie Couric Media

The Starling Man

I always had a love for maps as a child. I got curious of all the countries and places that were mentioned on a piece of canvas or paper, somewhere across Earth, at the same time of my presence on this planet. It fascinated me to know that at any particular time, there were millions other souls scattered across the globe, perhaps living a life, or having thoughts very similar to mine. I imagined bustling cities full of people speaking different languages than me, or empty golden beaches that were waiting for my arrival.

Perhaps I always had the “Alexander the Great Syndrome,” being myself born in the region of the ancient Kingdom of Macedon. I wished I could visit and “capture” them all, not by war and violence this time, but with my photographic lenses. Or maybe I simply never really belonged to a place. I perpetually had the feeling of being an outsider, an old soul that was misunderstood by its own family and often friends, a wanderer and a gypsy.

Some other times I felt like an alien that fell onto this planet, to record his own experience of living among humans. People always interested and fascinated me, not that I liked everyone mind you, nor did I wish for their constant attention or approval. If I did that, there would be not enough time for me to organize travels in my imagination. When I could not get my hands onto a map, I would create one myself out of a piece of paper, adhered on a soft sticky tape to create the feel of a papyrus. Then I would draw real or imaginary lands, with cities, colonies or settlements, which grew and thrived, or collapsed and got destroyed by their enemies as I was taught in our history books.

Later the circumstances in my family, made me seek a career in Greece’s hotel industry. For years I came in contact with people from all over the world, of all ages, races, ethnicities, religions and cultures you can imagine. Naturally being curious about them, I befriended some of them and that was a catalyst, a magnet that irreversibly pulled me out of the borders of Greece and the security of my family.

I started my travels during my first year in the tourism industry and since then I have never stopped. My first trip was to Germany and Austria and that had me fall in love with Europe. Many trips would follow something that would ultimately lead me to migrating to Ireland, a country of migrants and travellers itself. What a suitable match. When I cannot travel in my waking life, I do so in my sleep. I often dream of getting lost in a market somewhere in Asia, or visiting some fjord of northern Europe. Additionally I always had this fantasy, of breaking my body into hundreds of starlings, flying in a noisy murmuration over plains, borders, countries and continents. Aren’t these birds just amazing?

Then I land in this avian form on various city park trees or on rooftops, observing local people and learning their ways. I get the chance to survey how they talk, conduct their business or go about their everyday lives. Without them noticing me, I hear about their grievances, their dreams and national or personal dramas unfolding; experience everything that makes them themselves.

Naturally at some stage I join them as a human again. Nothing beats a good conversation with someone new from another country. I only wish I could learn all the languages of the world, converse with people much more different than me and the people that surround me. I am what I am today, not much because of my family environment, but through my interactions with other individuals.

They offered me new experiences and points of view, as diverse as the people I came in contact with. Colleagues, lovers, friends, employers, each of them of various backgrounds, age and ethnicity, helped me manifest and enhance my human experience, by simply being part of it. No matter for how long-sometimes only briefly, occasionally for the better, other times for the worse. The experience only counts.

Similarly to when I meet a new person, I can never describe how it feels when I am in a new city. I love everything about the process of travelling, from booking the flights, arriving at the airport and the hotel, to the first strolls around my new destination of conquest. I get excited like a child when reaching every block corner, of what might just be around; a square, some beautiful building, a park, antiquity ruins or a marvellous cathedral and so hyper by the noises of each city, which echo its own very soul. The constructions and the people, its nature and transport system, plus the church bell chimes or imam calls to prayer from the minarets.

Additionally, the smells from the food stalls, pollution odours or sea breeze and the flowers from the parks, all together are turned into the city’s breath, dispersed by the winds that flow through each settlement and its narrow streets. It’s like the taste of the first kiss with each new city I find myself in, which often leaves a lasting memory and impression.

Some of my favourite attractions of course are each country’s architectural marvels. I dreamed I could be an architect when I was young too, but although this dream never materialized, it left me with a sheer admiration of beautifully made buildings. To me they are pure art, not just a construction that can be utilised for various purposes.

It amazes how nations dedicate so much skill in order to please their rulers or their deities. Particularly the cathedrals, churches, mosques, temples and palaces, are often a striking manifestation of humanity’s creative spirit and will. It is of the few times that humans in their effort to reach out to their gods with art, music and architecture, can sometimes become divine themselves.

That is why I often find myself lingering in religious establishments; not to find “God” myself-I am agnostic, but to marvel humanity and its achievements. In palaces on the other hand, I sometimes feel that they belong more to the people that designed and laboured to build or maintenance them, than the ones who got to actually live in them. It is them that poured their love and hard work into the project.

But one cannot ignore the darker side of these buildings. How many people were exploited to finance their completion, or indeed how many of them died; either while constructing them, working in a plantation field that allowed the wealth needed for such marvels, or during the wars that saw the destruction of an older civilization, to create a new one in its place.

These constructions would be nothing without the people that conceived and made them over the generations. That is why they belong to us all jointly. They are the manifestation of each human culture and ethnic group, which tries to showcase its existence on this planet, but also in this moment in time.

The world is rich with the different cultures, which are like the jewels of our global community; all different but all unique and important as they complement and compete with each other for attention, creating the beautiful mosaic of humanity itself. They are all worthy to be preserved and showcased, that is what make us collectively wealthier, not necessarily our economies and the amount of gold each country keeps in its financial institutions.

Every food, song, craft, art piece, language, dialect national costume or folklore tail and indeed every skilfully made building, is worth visiting and living in this world for and experience being human in the aeons of the universe. That is my take on it, from my time so far on this planet. And that is why I must continue my travels, in my dreams, as a flock of starlings or as a simple man on an airplane, perhaps next to you.

My photo book and short story "The Starling Man", is available for free in preview at Blurb, but also available to buy as PDF and a softcover book, from their website, with more photos.

It is time for Europe to recognize Palestine.

Three European nations announced Wednesday they will formally recognize a Palestinian state, a landmark move that caused retaliatory action from Israel and praise from Palestinians. The announcements from Ireland, Norway and Spain dealt the latest diplomatic blow to Israel, as the United States' close ally faces mounting international isolation and backlash over its deadly military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Government, immediately recalled Israel's ambassadors to Oslo, Dublin and Madrid and ordered a formal reprimand, to the three countries' envoys in Israel.

While the rest of our continent is still divided on what step it should follow after such developments, it is clear that the time for a unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state by Europe, is indeed the only way forward. Thus, more EU nations should follow Ireland's, Norway's and Spain's example and soon. This should not come as punishment towards Israel, rather a realistic approach that these two ethnic groups, can no longer coexist under any form of one government or any other arrangement that has been previously tried and applied in the region; not after such a horrendous death toll and attrocities committed.

There is no sense of pointing fingers or shifting the blame, both sides have over the years had a fair share of mistakes and either of them had governments or leaders that were too hardline and headstrong, for this conflict to be permanently resolved. And the West's involvement is actually questionable if it was ever constructive or helpful.

Europeans are divided between the Centre-Right, which traditionally always sides with Israel, while the continent's Left-Wing has always been more pro-Palestinian. Hence their differences and squabbles, are applied to this ongoing dispute for decades. In addition, different countries bring their national complexes into the debate; Ireland is always siding with the "underdog" in every conflict, perhaps because they are indentifying with them as result of their own struggles against a bigger power, the British Empire.

Germany on the other hand, has always been reluctant to go against Israel, partially due to their national "guilt and shame" of their past actions against Europe's Jewish population. It is no wonder then, why the EU is so divided over the matter and why the block cannot be trusted to have a decisive role in resolving this war, by taking sides or being the negotiator.

If we add to the mix America's role, which blindly supports Israel, funds and arms the country, plus convinces Europe and all the Western allies to stand behind Israel, even though most of the rest of the world has already recognized Palestine as a state, it is evident that we are part of the problem; for decades. How can we end a conflict, when there are so many interests involved, like those of Western arms industries or countries acting like big "powers" for example?

I have visited both nations, funny enough only months before the war errupted, and the region made a lasting impression to me; it is one of the most fascinating, culturally rich and beautiful that I have ever visited. It pained me to see the division, inequality and conflict among its peoples. However all tour guides that I have spoken to (perhaps because they did not want to put any tourists off, or because they wanted to show themselves as friendly, open minded and peaceful) from both sides, expressed the desire to live in peace, the compassion about the other side, plus the acknowledgement that some times, their own leadership was on the wrong.

In fact, I truly believe, if we left it to the ordinary people and not the politicians or foreign powers, this conflict could already have been resolved. However, we cannot go back and change things, this dispute is not new. In fact it has been under way since the British Colonial era and the way the former overlords of this region, abandoned the Jewish people to fend for themselves in a hostile region, only because Europeans did not accept their continent's Jewish population and because the Western powers needed a "foot" in the Middle East. Thus they created the Cyrpus and the Palestinian ongoing conflicts, with the only aim to have a say in the region, never mind the wishes or rights of the native peoples.

We could learn from our collective mistakes and move forward, or we can continue arguing about matters that not only we created, but we should not have a say in the first place. This conlfict must end, if we want the killings on both sides to end and the only way to achieve this, is to do something we did not before, which in fact is the right thing; recognise Palestine as a state and allow it to join the international community. Only if these people prosper, their youths will have a future and won't be susceptible to join organizations like Hamas.

Israel must accept this, that with violence and killings- especially the kind we have so passively whitnessed the past few months, this war will never end and there will be more blood spilled from both sides in the future. The kids that are orphaned or traumatized now, due to this operation against Hamas, will be the coming soldiers of this terrorist organization or any other new that will spring out in the future, if the Israelis are successful in destroying Hamas. The Arabs on the other hand must forever accept that Israel is there to stay, as long as both sides respect the borders drawn and agreed upon. Europe and the rest of the world, will clearly always support Israel in its fight for existence, but we cannot stand by and watch the carnage any longer.

We as Europeans must stop being so hypocrites and cry plus condemn Israel or Hamas over the killings, but fail to do what it must be done, thus we continue to watch passively in the coming years, as more children being bombed and killed, more people dying from attacks and rockets. It is done; the established solution we opted for so far has flaws, it has failed and it cannot continue. Ireland, Norway and Spain, thankfully have shown the way forward.

And this must not be seen as an appeasement or atonement of Hamas and the crimes that they have committed. As the current Irish Taoiseach Simon Harrris recently stated, after Ireland's recognition of the Palestinian State: "Let me also be clear that Hamas is not the Palestinian people. Today’s decision to recognise Palestine is taken to help create a peaceful future. A two-state solution is the only way out of the generational cycles of violence, retaliation and resentment, where so many wrongs can never make a right.Just as Ireland's recognition as a state eventually led to the establishment of our peaceful Republic, we believe that Palestinian statehood will contribute to peace and to reconciliation in the Middle East.

Come on Europe, it is time.....

November 2023 Dublin riots, are a dark omen for Ireland and Europe.

I could not believe that last week, November the 23rd, the city I have been living for almost 20 years would go up in flames, just because of a knife attack would spark a far-right inspired riot. (Image)

The violence broke out after three young children and their care assistant were attacked in Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire, a primary school on Parnell Square East, in the north of the city centre on Thursday afternoon. A five-year-old girl and the woman were seriously injured and remain under medical care, while the two other children, a five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, suffered less serious injuries.

The then unconfirmed reports on Thursday that the perpetrator was an immigrant to Ireland poured fuel on the fire (it’s since been reported that although the suspect is Algerian-born, he is a naturalised Irish citizen who has lived in Ireland for two decades). That was enough to become a spark, that led to the explosive events that followed.

The incident itself took place at 13:30 pm Dublin time, but by 7 o'clock the city centre was in flames. Thirteen shops were damaged or looted, 11 police cars damaged and destroyed along with three buses and a tram. One officer was seriously injured. From anti-immigrant and counter-protests outside the school, it progressively got worse and it turned into a full mayhem.

I live and work in Dublin central, my apartment is only two blocks away from the epicenter; I could see, hear and even smell everything that took place that night from my balcony. And while the Irish leadership would love to bury this as quickly as possible, by downplaying the far-right while pushing for the "thug" and anti-social element in this occurrence, I will beg to differ.

It is true that many of those who got involved in the riots, were just opportunists and "thugs", trying to cause mayhem and steal shops by breaking into them, during the chaos. But not all of them fall in this category. Since the Covid epidemic ended, I have often watched in horror from my balcony, small groups of Irish nationals protesting for "Ireland for the Irish", "Irish first", or "no more refugees" in the streets below. Not great in numbers, just in the few tens of individuals, but that was unheard in Ireland 20 years ago when I first arrived in the country.

Only last May, far-right anti-immigrant activists have claimed responsibility for setting fire to a makeshift camp housing asylum seekers in Dublin. Posting on social media, the group Real Message Eire claimed they were angry at the presence of what they call a "shanty town" with "illegal migrants and communists", in a predominantly working-class neighbourhood of the Irish capital. And that was not the only time such thing happened.

From peacefull protests some years ago, when the Syrian refugee crisis errupted, when Irish participants would claim "we are not racists, we are just concerned that these people will not be properly accomodated in our rural region", we have seen burning of refugee centres and now a full on graffiti spraying on migrant shops, riots, protests and burning buses with sprayed on messages like "OUT" in Dublin. (Image)

All this time the signs were there to see, but the Irish leadership and indeed society do what the Irish do best; denial. The authorities just sat on their own thumbs, with the typical Irish attitude "ah sure it will be grand", perpetuating the image and thought of Ireland being a very tolerant and welcoming country; which it used to be. But the signs of the few years have been increasingly pointing to a worrisome trend and development, plus no government or authority wanted to openly call a spade a spade and even more importantly, do something about it.

Since the Ukrainian refugee crisis, the Irish people have seen their country take in a huge number of refugees from the war torn country, offer them free housing, social welfare benefits, free postage to send parcels back in the country and many more benefits. Since the conflict began, more than 98,500 people from Ukraine have arrived in Ireland. That sadly happened right after the Covid pandemic, which saw the living standards of many deteriorate, whilst as result of the continuing support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, the cost of living in Ireland has skyrocketed.

Irish people also face at the same time, an ongoing housing crisis which is a direct failure of its own politicians and society. As of March 2023, despite years of consecutive governments saying that housing is a priority, the housing crisis is getting worse. According to figures from the Department of Housing 11,754 people are homeless and relying on emergency homeless accommodation. This is up on 10,492 in March 2022 and 7,991 in May 2021.

This affects vulnerable families and people the most of course, and many of those who participated in the riots could come from such background. Rents in Dublin and Ireland overall are crazy and there is no end in sight, as the refugees put pressure on the country's property market. I work in a company's HR department, and since the pandemic ended we lost so many young, Irish, talented employees that simply cannot affort to rent in Ireland any more with the entry salaries companies offer nowadays, and they opt-out to migrate to Southern Europe, the UK, or Canada for better quality of living and life-work balance. This in one of the EU nations with the highest GDP.

And if we link what has happened in Ireland last week, with what has been happening across Europe for the past few years, it is easy to see that our leaders are failing us repeatedly. Around the same time when the riots in Dublin were happening, another shock wave rippled through Europe; the veteran anti-Islam populist leader Geert Wilders has won a dramatic victory in the Dutch general election. After 25 years in parliament, his Freedom party (PVV) won 37 seats, well ahead of his nearest rival, a left-wing alliance.

This development follows similar outcomes in Italy, Sweden and many other EU nations in recent years and if the next one is France, the EU is heading for yet another major crisis, or even fight for its existence. All our ruling elites can do, is blame Putin for the rise of the far-right in our continent, but never themselves, or take stock from the outcome of their policies during the past few decades. That is decadence, corruption, folly and a disgrace.

The problem is, that while I totally empathise with the anger some youths may feel about their reality and the predicament which the rulers of their countries have inflicted upon them, violence and racism are never the solution or the answer. Although it is true that the attacker (who has been arrested, remains in custody and injured) in Dublin is an Irish citizen of migrant stock, many rumors circulate about him: that he was arrested before for another knife crime and that he suffers from mental illness. The Irish authorities, always so cautious have not yet released a statement on the motives for the attack, and that in my opinion is a mistake, as it allows certain perhaps unfounded speculations to be circulated on social media by the same groups that instigated the riots.

But even if we accept that the attack was a terror or any other racist assault against the Irish society, those who belive in such rumours conveniently ignore that two other foreigners, a Brazilian and a French national, risked their lives to stop the knife attack. Passing by on a moped is Caio Benício, a delivery driver originally from Brazil, stopped and used his helmet as a weapon to stop the attack. In addition, Alan Loren-Guille, a French student on his way to work in a restaurant, also intervened and knocked the attacker's knife out of his hand.

Such issues will never be resolved with more hatred, so please do not turn this country into another far-right haven. The Irish authorities and government may have acted fast to detain those responsible, but this is a short-term solution. In a few months or even years, the monster of populism could return if appropriate actions are not taken, and Ireland if it is not careful could have its very own "Breivik" moment in history. Wether the Irish or indeed the European leaders want indeed to prevent such thing from happening in the future, they better come with solutions for their citizens' needs soon and stop their own kind of populism, of constantly blaming outside factors or countries and their leaders, for their mistakes.

Europe better tread carefully in the future.

For the past year and a half, we all been watching a terrible disaster unfolding. This time not in the Middle East or Asia, but right on our doorstep; Ukraine.

"Putin's War", as Western media often portray it, is anything but though. These kind of conflicts have happened many times before in history, one of such times it was Greece that suffered the consequences of the struggle between East and West, with the Greek Civil War happening back in the post WW2 '40s.

That conflict was the first proxy war of the Cold War and represents the first example of postwar involvement on the part of the Allies in the internal affairs of a foreign country, an implementation of George F. Kennan's containment policy. Greece in the end was funded by the United States (through the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan) and joined NATO (1952), while the insurgents were demoralized by the bitter split between the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, who wanted to end the war, and Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito, who wanted it to continue. (Wikipedia)

Drawing parallel's from one disaster, we can see what future awaits Ukraine for the coming decades, if it manages to win this war and maintain its territorial integrity; it cannot do it alone, unless NATO goes to war with Russia, but no one is prepared to do this yet. We have a stalemate as it stands, with Russia still occupying roughly the same amount of territory, since the start of the war.

The West insists on helping the embattled nation at all costs, "for as long as it takes" to achieve victory! The problems is, does any of them care about the human casualties, or teaching Putin another lesson is the only thing that matters? In addition, does any of the Western leaders have any vision of what will happen to Ukraine, once it joins NATO and EU, will it be just another unstable, problematic member like Greece or the Balkans?

This is clearly another war between the West and Russia for supremacy, similar to that of the Greek Civil War. Ukraine is being used by both sides to settle old scores once and for all, and one can only wonder why don't Americans just don't go to war with Russia themselves in the Pacific and their shared borders close to Alaska, but insist on dragging everyone else in the vortex of their power struggles with their old arch-enemy. Whoever wins that slaughter, gets Greece, Ukraine and Europe, or the rest of the world for that matter.

Europeans already pay a high cost for this war, we have all noticed our cost of living sky rocketing, despite all anti-Russian propaganda by our media, and Ukraine cheering. This war could have been easily avoided, if the two sides just gave up the "super-power" complex. But no, this bras de fer is not new, in fact it never went away. The West has maintained the arrogant "winner" complex of the Cold War, and wishes that neither Russia, China or anyone else ever challenge their hegemony again. But the world is changing. Plus, for how long can the West maintain this unethical monopoly in the world's riches and when poorer nations'citizens pour into Western lands, the solution they can think of is "building walls and make them pay for it?"

The struggles between Russia and the West started with the emergence of Vladimir Putin, as a dominant figure in Russian politics. And partly, this is the West's fault too. In a recent BBC documentary series, "Putin, Russia and the West" we can see that ever since the Libyan Civil War and the West's involvement in it, relations started going sour between NATO and Putin, after a few very promising years of reconciliation efforts. Russia's view was the any outside involvement in Libya should not be a "regime change", rather a humanitarian assistance, to save lives. Putin, who was acting as a Prime Minister, while Dmitry Medvedev was Russia's President at the time, openly clashed back then even, as Medvedev tried to approach and please the West, negotiating the conflict with them. Putin on the other hand, a former KGB man, knew from the start that this is a regime change operation.

US President Obama and his Western allies, proved Putin right, as they ousted Muammar Gaddafi from Libya despite Russia's objections, making it very difficult for Medveden to defend any trust in the West again among his country's elites, pushing of course the Russian public opinion, firmly behind Putin. In the Syrian Conflict, Putin was able to solidify his dominance in Russian politics, again after Western insistance of another "regime change" and a decisive victory in favor of Assad.

It is then a wonder why then Western Powers condemn Russia when they meddle in other nation's affairs, while they do exactly the same in regions of their interest. I would wholeheartedly support the Western cause, if I saw that in the aftermath of each Western invasion or bombardement, countries like Libya, Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan saw their political, financial and societal standards rise. But this is not the case. In fact what we have seen, is that these regions are far worse after the "removal" of their "dictators", so why do we continue messing countries up, and then we do not like dealing with the consequences; refugees, migration, instability.

We are proving Putin right all the time. His stance of "no regime change", sounds much better, than the hypocrytical Western "humanitarian cause". If our leaders trully cared about human rights, there would be no need for "Black Lives Matter" demonstrations in America, or riots in France over the killings of migrant youths. Why we do not focus on bettering our own societies first, but insist on meddling in other nations' affairs?

It is simple; our leaders do not like "dictators", because they are harder to handle and manipulate. Little do they care about human rights in other nations. If a "dictator" is not West friendly, our governments and elites, cannot get access to the wealth and riches of that nation, under favorable for Western interests terms. We never bother Saudi Arabia, despite their terrible human rights records (women and LGBT individuals or migrant worker treatment). They play nice with USA and many of its Western allies, notable the UK. However Gaddafi and Assad, were not nice to the West like the Saudis, nor is Putin.

If the West establishes a new puppet regime, it can then achieve its goals in the region. This is not a conspiracy theory. John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former White House national security adviser, admitted that he had helped plan attempted coups in foreign countries. He made the remarks to CNN after the day's congressional hearing into the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

So how can the US blame Russia for doing exactly the same? The Americans do not even show any regard for their own allies. In 2012, a Greek prosecutor pressed charges of treason and trying to destabilize Greece against unknown suspects, over an alleged 2008 plot to overthrow the then-conservative prime minister, Costas Karamanlis. Court officials said the plan was hatched to thwart efforts by Karamanlis efforts to improve energy relations with Russia and included overthrowing and even killing the premier. It was not clear who was behind it. Eeehmmm...

Karamanlis pursued closer cooperation with Russia on energy issues, annoying Greece’s western allies. He supported the South Stream gas pipeline, which would bring Russian natural gas to Greece and western Europe and rival the Nabucco, the U.S.-backed pipeline that will convey gas from central Asia to the West. Yeah sure, it is "not clear who was behind it", just like there is not enough evidence to explain the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. Funny because every time Russia or China do something wrong, the West always finds enough evidence to condemn them, yet when it is them staging coups even in allied nations, somehow there is never enough proof!

Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss allegedly sent a message saying ‘It’s Done’ to the U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately after the Nord Stream attack. Yet the US as always refuses to admit the obvious. Who else would blow Russian pipes in the North Sea, since the Russians paid to built it and they could just turn it off, instead of blowing it to stop the gas flowing into Europe?

Is it any wonder also, that the Greek Economic Crisis, started in 2009, a year after the attempted coup to kill or overthrow Karamanlis in 2008, for his pro-Russian stance? Suddenly scandal after scandal hit Greece and the whole of Europe and America turned on Greece, ridiculing the country, bringing it to its knees with bullying and debt, all because the intentions of a Greek PM. The works of John Bolton come to mind here for sure. No other EU nation receiving an IMF bailout (ie Ireland, Portugal) faced such humiliation like Greece.

With attitudes such as these by Western leaders, is it any wonder why Putin has this bullish and standoffish attitude towards the West? I am not sure I agree with his stance, but I totally understand it after all the things the West has done over the years. Ideally I would like closer relations between Europe and Russia, but America and the European puppet governments it has established over the years, are a thorn. When the USA does not hesitate to plot to assasinate a Prime Minister of an allied nation, in order to push for their gas pipes and interests in Europe, in an ever ongoing effort to "de-Russify" our continent, how can Russia trust us and cooperate nicely?

The West keep hiting Russia economically hard, by sabotaging any projects that will allow closer EU-Russian collaboration, then it cries wolf when Russia fights back and acts the same way in Georgia and Ukraine. We do not just expand NATO and EU, we are cutting away partners, markets and source of income for Russia, to push for American ones and we are doing this by staging coups like the ones in Greece, or bribing the aspiring EU/NATO member states' leadership with money in order to join our "club" and denounce Russia. Any efforts for closer relations with Russia are faced with the threat of assasination or coup, just like the case of Greece.

Why does it always have to be us or them, and why we can never be with both and either of them? If America portrays itself as the "land of the free", it surely does not allow for much freedom to its allies once they join their club, unless they do its biding. These are developments that should worry all European citizens. This is a proof of democratic deficit in the West, evidence of corruption, of a fascist regime similar to what we accuse Russia of.

Anyone who does not hate Russia at the moment in Europe is being treated as "Putin's mouthpiece", a "paid troll paid by Kremlin" (including me most of the times), and no one wants to see things for what they are. We are not allowed to express our concerns openly, think or question the current status or our government's actions in Ukraine. We are forced to pay for this war, just as we were forced to save European and American banks in the economic crisis of 2009 (remember the crisis started in the USA, plus no bailout money stayed in Greece, Ireland etc) and no amount of protests can change anything. We are not being heard. This is scary.

I for one would worry more about the state of European democracy, as I am a European. If Russians love Putin, it does not affect me as I am not a Russian citizen, but that does not mean I must not cooperate or trade with them, as we do with Turkey (a brilliant example of Western democracy by the way) or Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.

It really does bother me where Europe is heading, right under US control, with the full collaboration of our own "elected" leaders. We are becoming a US colony and it is obvious (something that I suspected but did not want to accept that it could not be changed in the future) that the EU itself is nothing more than a US tool to bring the whole of Europe under their absolute control, and we as citizens have no say whatsoever in our own future. European leaders must reconsider and stop this path we are heading. They lied to us and promised that a "united Europe" would stand with Russia, China AND the USA as an equal partner and contender, becoming a global player for the betterment of the lives of all EU citizens. But sadly all we see is the sell out of our future and reputation as Europeans, to the interests of the "few" in the West.

Yes Mr Scholz..... But!

In his speech in Prague’s Charles University on Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has pushed for the idea of ending national vetos, and gradually transitioning to majority voting on foreign policy and tax issues in the European Union. The goal is to prevent the bloc from becoming paralysed by the vetoes of individual states, as it is about to take in new members. It is not the first time that a high profile European leader, has openly called for such radical step in EU. Mr Scholz's speech, comes almost five years after Emmanuel Macron’s in Sorbonne, that laid out his grand EU agenda.

As a pro-European and a federalist myself, I am partially intrigued and excited that European leaders are finally mulling over ditching their national vetoes, something that brought so many delays, frictions, disagreements and missed opportunities during the past decades in Europe. However the ride is not going to be easy, as it will be very hard to persuade small states like Malta, Ireland, Greece plus so on; and rightly so.

It will require some serious negotiating, convincing the leaders but also the citizens of the smaller members- Ireland requires a referendum for any constitutional changes remember, that Europe is ready for the big leap, it is mature enough to think collectively in solidarity and "European". For example, the EU Commission early in 2019 kick-started a debate on reforming decision-making for areas of EU taxation policy, which currently requires unanimity among member states. Malta and a number of other small nations have traditionally opposed any move towards tax harmonisation on an EU level.

If these states, such as Ireland, are to be convinced to abandon a policy which gives them competitiveness and wealth, what guarrantees will they get in return, that their economies will receive substantial assistance to compensate for the loss of revenue? Since by abandoning their veto will inevitably mean that a part of what contributed to their prospetity, will be compromised for the greater European cause. What will the rest of the EU offer them as an alternative; industries, job creation or simply subsidies?

Or what if the EU Council decide to allow refugess to enter its territories on the grounds of humanitarianism, but decline to agree on ditching the Dublin III Regulation and distribute the refugees or asylum seekers equally among the member states. As result, the countries on the outer borders of EU like Greece or Spain, will have no say or opportunity to dispute what is being unfairly enforced on them. Will the rest of their European partners think "European", do what is right and help in a situation that they took part agreeing upon? Until now, all we have seen was bickering among EU member states, but so far we had the unanimity decision making to blame.

This development will also bring new challenges and questions elsewhere. How will the three EU governing bodies (European Parliament, EU Commission and the EU Council) be affected by the new reality? The most interesting case of course, is that of the Council, since it is there that the national vetoes happen. If majority voting will replace unanimity, how can a nation safeguard its interests, if the rest do not share or understand its sensitivities?

In addition, since the bigger, richer countries like Germany, even if they lose their own veto, they could bribe, pressure, blackmail or influence enough governments to get their point accross, how smaller poorer EU states like Bulgaria can secure their red lines on a issue and if they cannot, how will they be convinced by Macron and Scholz, to abandon their veto.

If we fail in this attempt for decision making streamlining, the only other two alternatives would be firstly if we aimed for the gradual full empowerment of the European Parliament, as the main decision making of the EU. Leaving out of course, the bickering of national governments, by merging the Council and the Commission in one single body, acting like a Senate, Congress of any form of a bicameral government. But that is something even more radical, plus I doubt that Europeans are ready for such fully fledged federalist solution. Never mind our governments. Secondly, we could leave things as they are, leaving Europe always a tail follower in global developments.

Finally, how do Macron and Scholz view the future EU foreign policy that they so much want to form, since Europe is still a dwarf in the global stage on this matter and on defense, thus it requires US support and protection? I have never hidden that I am not an Atlanticist and this reliance of Europe on America, is increasingly troublesome for me.

The US Administration has recently opened not just one front with the war in Ukraine-fighting Russia, but they are also itching over Taiwan, potentially angering China. If they are not carefull, they could start a global conflict and Europe-as their side-kick, won't have other option but to take sides and join them, with whatever the outcome and consequences. As it did in the case of Ukraine and is paying a much higher price, both than the US and Russia, on economic terms. Instead of our American cousins, waiting to see how will the war in Ukraine conclude, they are keen on sending their Senators in Taiwan, "as a message to China", that the US will always support the Republic. Is this the right time to do it? They should be pulling Russia and China apart, not uniting them as a common enemy!

Clearly they are troubled by what is happening in the world, like the BRICS enlargement , or the "de-dollarization" of the global economy, as attempted by Russia and its partners in BRICS, notably India. The two countries have agreed to create "RuPay",a system of cards based on Russia’s Mir payment system be accepted at ATMs and POS in India. In addition, during 2021, 53.4 percent of all payments from India to Russia were made in rubles while 38.3 percent were in dollars. India emerged as a leading foreign country to switch to the Russian currency.

The aim is obviously to topple the dollar and to wean the world of the American economic dominance. So where does this leave Europe then? If the world changes and BRICS achieve their goal, will a unified Europe always fight the US corner, or form its own destiny? Unless the plan of Scholz and Macron is to crush any dissidents in EU ranks, making it easier for the US influence to be maintained, at least in Europe. Then should we allow such thing?

Hungary for example, announced in mid-August that it is importing more Russian gas than previously planned under trade deals, following a visit by its top diplomat to Moscow in July. Bulgaria also stated recently, that talks to resume Russian gas supplies are 'inevitable.' It is clear that EU member states are "cracking" in their support for sanctions against Russia, since Europe failed to provide them until now, with viable, long term solutions or alternatives. The pressure by the US to keep up the hard-line stance towards Russia in support of Ukraine is mounting, however Europeans are afraid of what will happen this winter.

As businesses suffer, many fearing closure and households struggling to pay their bills, could European leaders successfully push now for such a radical and bold development in Europe, plus how will it be received by the voters, who are angry and desperate at the moment? As we have witnessed before in difficult times, citizens tend to turn to national politicians, not the "Brussels bubble" for solutions, nor they rely on other European partners to save them.

Only today, 6 months after the war in Ukraine broke out, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said officials were “working on an emergency intervention and a structural reform of the electricity market”. She stated that the current crisis was “exposing the limitations” of the current structure, with EU energy ministers set to hold urgent talks in Brussels on 9 September. MEPs called for an “EU wide cap” on prices and said that efforts must be made to”decouple electricity and gas prices altogether.” Will that be enough to save the face of EU in the voter's eyes and maintain their confidence in its institutions?

To conclude, Mr Scholz' suggestions are long overdue, plus much welcomed in most pro-European and federalist circles. They get a reserved "yes" from me. However their timing, implementation, willingness of the national governments and of course of the citizens, in a such challenging time such as this, could potentially defeat and derail his plans; no matter how useful, or righteous. It remains to be seen if Europe is mature and ambitious enough to decide and press ahead on its own, or remain in America's shadow forever. Sadly with the collaboration of our leaders, as the globe moves quickly forward to a new era and a multipolar world.

Is Europe prepared for a Multipolar World?

It has been 5 months since Russia invaded Ukraine. During this time, most of us hoped for a quick compromise by either side, to end this war, limiting the losses in human lives. Obviously this is not the case. Another aspect that has been made absolutely clear, is that this is not just a war between Ukraine and Russia. It is a proxy war between the West and Russia, with Ukraine being the battlefield.

The saddest thing is that this conflict could have been totally avoided. The West insists on blaming the Russian President, Vladimir Putin for everything regarding this war, simplifying the reasoning behind it, as him being a dictator and war monger, thirsty for more land, expanding the former Russian empire, that Russia is not a democracy rather a fascist regime, citing the Soviet Union's role in WW2 and many other outrageous things. A blatant propaganda, anything as an excuse for their voters, on why they decided to pump billions of their money into this war, arming and supporting Ukraine in a conflict it cannot win, unless the West decides to put boots to the ground; starting of course WW3.

How to explain to American, Canadian and European citizens, that this winter, their homes are going to be cold, their house bills and grocery prices higher, their transport and petrol super expensive, because that evil dictator Putin decided to invade a peaceful neighbouring country. This is laughable. The war was being waged in Ukraine for 8 years and during this time, no Western media really explained what was going on in that region.

No government of a NATO country, informed their citizens that since 2014 the alliance had a presence in Ukraine and was training Ukrainian soldiers, in preparation and anticipation of this war. They knew what was coming, but instead of trying to prevent it with diplomacy, they poured more oil into the fire, by deploying troops in the war torn region, arming the Ukrainian side. Has any of us, the citizens been informed about this all this time?

There is a YouTube video, in which we see former US Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain in Ukraine in 2016, literally preparing the Ukrainians for this proxy war, encouranging them-or lying to them most likely, that they can win this conflict with the aid of USA. How many Ukrainians are the Americans prepared to sacrifice I wonder, to achieve their goals in the region? Them being of course, cutting the ties between Europe and Russia, weaning our continent off cheap Russian energy and removing Vladimir Putin from Russian leadership. They clearly want a reliant Europe on their energy and arms and a weaker, more managable Russia, without authoritarian strongmen like Putin. A win-win for USA. That is not what they may be getting though.

To think that Europe can be cut off from its reliance on cheap Russian energy, and hook itself on that of USA in a matter of months is simply daft. This should have been planned and worked on for decades, but now our American friends want us to achieve this within a year. And to achieve this, we will have to rely on Saudi oil, or Russian oil via countries like Azerbaijan, and other very "democratic" nations such as Iran. The American President had to go begging for more oil from Saudi Arabia, a nation that they scorned before, but not as much as Russia, obviously.

In a published telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin which took place just 4 days before the Russian invasion, we see that the reasons that the war was allowed to happen were stubborness, pride, petty drama and quasi legalities and treaties, past agreements and intransigence, instead of reason and common sense. Macron is trying to convince Putin to meet with US President Biden, while Putin called for pressure on Zelensky to allow Ukraine to begin direct talks with “D/LPR” militants, something that Macron described as impossible, since "in a sovereign state, the texts of laws are not made up by separatist groups, but democratically elected authorities". That of course made Putin angry as he added: "this is not a democratically elected government. They came to power as a result of a coup, people were burned alive there, it was a bloodbath, and Zelensky was one of those responsible".

Instead of trying avoid this war, as this will be detrimental for everyone involved apart the arms industries, our leaders insist on arguing on legalities and engaging in power-games. On the other hand, there has been little exposure in Western media, of the bombarments of the Donbas and Luhansk regions, by the Ukrainian army, but only the damages that Russia is now inflicting on Ukraine. We are not exposed to the full background of the war, which started after the alleged regime change, the Euromaidan, instigated by US agents in Ukraine-according to Putin's point of view. Where was a grilling on Irish television of the Russian ambassador all these 8 years for example, to request an explanation of Russia's clear involvement and support of the Russian speaking separatists in Ukraine? Nothing, there has been an utter silence.As if Ukrainian soldiers were not killing Russian speaking civilians all these 8 years, but then how did these 14,000 or so victims of the civil war (prior the Russian invasion) occured?

The fact that we are only shown one side of this war, should alarm us. This is not a balanced, but biased portrayal of the conflict, to suit the West's narrative and interests in the region. The question is, why is Europe following US foreign policy so blindly, even if it is clear that we will pay for this war a higher price.

The euro slid towards parity with the American dollar, the first time in 20 years. The last time the euro fell below the dollar was November 2002, when the common currency was still in its infancy. A sliding euro will add to the burden on European households and businesses already reeling from record-high inflation. A weaker currency would make imports, which are mostly denominated in dollars, more expensive. When those items are raw materials or intermediate goods, their higher costs can further drive up local prices.

Riots are already errupting in the Netherlands over new greener farming practices, in Italy we have taxi driver riots over new regulations liberalizing taxi services to include ride-sharing operators like Uber. In addition, German farmers are joining un support for their Dutch counterparts, as the Uber files scandal is shaming the EU Commission and officials, as well many goverments like that of Macron. In this volatile environment in Europe, after 2 years of a pandemic, in which many saw their businesses facing closure, prices of goods, rents and services going up, now we have a war that adds extra expenses to the average European household.

How long before there are more intensive quarrels, frictions and divisions in the EU, as a recession is almost a certain reality for most European households during this winter. Inflation is rising across the eurozone and in some cases like that of Estonia, it has reached the whooping year-high of 22% this month. In Germany, residents make plans amid fears of a winter gas shortage, as the country dims the lights to cope with Russia energy supply crunch. Fears of winter energy crisis bring calls for shorter hot showers and cooler swimming pools. The green agenda is out of the window, as Germany and several of its European neighbours are returning to coal-fired power plants in order to conserve precious reserves of natural gas. How will all the above impact the German or European industries and economy, the backbone of our continent's political and social structure, plus way of life?

If we add to the mix the number of Ukrainian refugees into Europe, which get immediate access to social welfare, housing and work in most EU countries, then the European economy is heading for a big crash. More than 9 million Ukrainian refugees have flooded Europe since the Russian invasion. In some countries like Ireland which took in 50,000 fleeing Ukrainians, this refugee crisis is becoming a big problem and they country is struggling to cope in finding accomodation, no matter how generously and valiantly they are trying to house the ever increasing new arrivals. The problem is how long will the Irish, or in fact European people, be willing to pay for all this, the billions thrown into Ukraine for support, the arms and weaponry provided, the housing expenses for all the refugees, as their own household bills are rising and life standards are being erroded.

Two European Prime Ministers resigned already; the UK PM Boris Johnson, who after a series of scandals finally gave in due to the high cost of living, plus his Italian counterpart, Mario Draghi for similar reasons. Italy’s economic prospects have soured as inflation bites due to the Russo-Ukrainian war. The optimism seen at start of 2022 is fading fast as country undergoes cost-of-living squeeze. So one has to wonder if all the bravado of the European leaders against Russia and Vladimir Putin for the past 8 years and since the start of the war, all the economic sanctions they came up with to hurt the Russian economy and bring down its President, do they now realize that they have backfired? The Russian rouble not only did not collapse, but it is the strongest currency so far this year, contrary to the euro. Europe 'shot itself in the lungs' with sanctions on Russia, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated recently, and how spot on he is on this. Russia is a country with vast resources, plus the world is not only comprised by the West. If Europe rejects Russian energy, there are plenty more regions on the planet eager for Russian cheap gas!

Why must Europe remain the lap-dog of USA, rely on its army for its own protection, but in return do not have its own foreign policy and must do whatever the US lobbies decide to do? From this war, the US and Russia are the big winners so far, while we Europeans-especially the Ukrainians are paying the highest price. Wouldn't it better to maintain good relations with Russia all this time, negotiate and try to find a solution to the conflict peacefully? What if we don't like the Russian leadership, we do dealings with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, themselves very autocratic countries, lacking democracy and with a very bad human rights or freedom of the press records. Turkey is always being referred as a "valued ally" by NATO's Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, despite the Turks humiliating Sweden and Finland in order for them to be allowed in the alliance, demanding these two countries go against their traditional stance on the Kurdish and other similar problems. Despite Turkey openly threating Greece, an EU and NATO member with war in a Twitter post, plus dealing and negotiating with Russia as they do not join the sanctions against the country, by other Western nations.

We do not object or feel outraged when the Turks invade Syria and Iraq, or when the Saudis bombard with NATO tolerance and support, Yemen for the past 7 years. It is this Western hypocricy and arrogance which inevitably will lead to its own downfall. We have been prospering through conflict and other people's suffering for too long and we should be ashamed of ourselves. The whole so called "Western Civilization" has thrived on war, arms sales, economic bullying and domination, inequality and American hegemony, with the collaboration and support of Europe. How long can we exist like this, being such hypocrites and become outraged by the actions of Russia, but not our own and those countries like Turkey that we "need" to achieve our goals in a region?

The world is changing mind you. As the West is boasting about NATO getting two new members, Sweden and Finland, the so called BRICS (the economic block of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is also expanding. Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt have applied to join the group, with Indonesia also thinking of following suit. The developing world wants a change, is getting organized, creating an alternative to Western hegemony. They clearly had enough of our condescending, arrogant and hypocritical attitude towards them. They understandably want to work and trade with their own rules, not those imposed by the West, which often do not suit them, or they are unfair to their economies since they are created to perpetuate Western economic dominance.

The war in Ukraine most likely will be lost, if we leave the country on its own. At some stage, European but also American voters will have enough of financing this lost case. Ukraine has 3 times or less the population of Russia and even with our military support, they will one day simply run out of people. The Russians have shown how determined they are in winning this. For them, it is all in now, either win or face more humiliation from the West, like the one they suffered back in the '90s. They will not allow this to happen, the West must expect this. The Russians have been preparing for this conflict, as the West were arming and training Ukrainian soldiers. We had the chance to stop it and do as Putin has asked us, allow negotiations between the two warring sides to take place, but with our arrogance and idiotic, short sighted, "treaty obsessed" legalities, we did not take this chance. We should have. Now that the war has started, there is simply no way back. The Russians will play all their cards to win this.

The US does not want an open conflict between the two, as it will lead to a WW3 and this one may become a nuclear one. So they will not put boots on the ground. Europe is already struggling financially, so why on Earth are we not giving up and save Ukrainian and Russian lives, our economy and world peace? And for what really, a decades old grudge between America and Russia? We do not have to be destroyed again as a continent, so that these two can settle their scores. Europe should distance itself from America, seek to restore its relations with Russia and be ready to join the new, multipolar world that is emerging. The age of American/Western hegemony is coming to an end, even the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated it recently. It does not have to be catastrophic or end up in a global, generalized conflict. We should let it happen and join the new era. It will be a fairer world, with Europe being one of the pillars, if of course we remain united and strong. If we do not, then our worse fears will be materialized and we will become a divided, poor continent, relying on those countries which up until now we scorned.

So far we tried so desperately to avoid this fate, by attaching ourselves on the military might of the USA. In this case though, we chose wrong. The USA's power is weakening and so will its appetite to always put up with our need for "mothering" and protection. Even if we remain attached to their hip, bigger blocks are prepared to challenge them and inevitably, we will be caught in the middle. A multipolar world is not all that bad and it looks inevitable at this stage. Why go in an all-out war with Russia and China with a potential annihilation, just so we help USA maintain their grip on the world, as we hope for a better and favourable treatment by them? Instead of taking the plunge into adulthood, truly unite as a continent, create our own foreign policy backed by a European defense mechanism, independent from the USA, and join this multipolar world and new reality, together with the challenges and opportunities it offers?