By Francisco Peyret
The realignment of forces between the United States, Russia, and China has led the world into an alley that seems to have no way out. For now, this economic and military realignment of power is manifesting itself with the invasion of the Russian regime in Ukraine. Russia is trying to clearly draw the lines by setting limits to NATO’s growth. Since there is no room for a nuclear war, the battle has become multidimensional; President Putin has engaged a media war, using nuclear weapons as a whip to keep the Western powers at bay. US President Biden and his allies responded with a series of blunt and very severe measures, detonating two more wars—a financial and an economic one. Multinational companies and the media are waging their own battles. And as if that were not enough, there is the energy war in the form of inflation.
The military interventions of the last 20 years have shown that the big losers are countries’ historical heritage, the environment, and clearly, the citizens; millions of dead, millions of people leaving their country, and many others rebuilding their countries almost from nothing.
My best friend in San Miguel is from Ukraine. She was born in Kiev, at that time still part of the Soviet Union. She told me about the night she and her family travelled overland to migrate to the West, carrying only a suitcase. They left everything else behind—friends, home, and country. At the station they were seen off by their classmates, who were saying goodbye forever; at that time there were no social networks as we know them today.
In Germany she made friends at school, among them Russians, Georgians, Belarusians. For this generation it seemed that many quarrels of the past had been left behind, but the reality is that for politicians and geopolitics, this is definitely not the case.
With a transparent and melancholic face, with dreamy eyes looking to the past, she tells me of the love Ukrainians have for their land, of their affection for the countryside, and of their desire to define their future themselves, without vile interventions from “big brother.” Courageous Ukrainians who, despite all the disadvantages, are defending their territory (the media reports that more than 80,000 Ukrainians are returning from other countries to enlist). Also courageous are those who are leaving everything to try to start anew in the midst of dramatic uncertainty. At the same time, millions of Russians who do not want war are also paying the price by losing their jobs and sending their children to an unwanted war. It is particularly difficult, as the lives of the citizens of these two nations have been intertwined for several centuries.
Composed in 1962 as an expression of Kyivites’ love for their city, this song became the anthem of Ukraine’s capital in November 2014:
“The calm day slowly fades away, with lights playing like green sea, These Dnipro slopes became dear to me,
Where branches of dreams sway from lovers’ delights…
How not to love you, my dear Kyiv!
Velvet evenings, like the tide of happiness.
How not to love you, my dear Kyiv!
Cannas look into my eyes, I’ll pour my heart into them.
Let them tell my beloved, how much I truly love her.
I will dream and live on the wings of hope.
How not to love you, my dear Kyiv!
Velvet evenings, like the tide of happiness,
How not to love you, my dear Kyiv!
Sleeps the weary city a quiet and peaceful sleep.
The lights, like a necklace, bloomed over the Dnipro,
Velvet afternoons, like the tide of happiness.
How not to love you, my dear Kyiv!”
*Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are exclusive responsibility of the author and do not intend to reflect Atención San Miguel position.
