our war

War always shatters many illusions. Since February 24, 2022, Westerners have learned a lot about themselves. Starting with this rather cruel fact: in the new world disorder, they are relatively isolated. The invasion of Ukraine had certainly aroused widespread condemnation at the United Nations, where a new vote will take place on Thursday. But in reality, a year later, we have to face the facts: some countries – starting with China – are getting along quite well with this conflict, not so much because it destabilizes Europe and, for ricochet, the United States only because it weakens liberal democracies. These constitute a dangerous counter-model for all authoritarian regimes.

In an exceptional story published last weekend by La Croix L’Hebdo, Artem Chapeye does not say anything else. The Ukrainian writer, who was a pacifist before enlisting in the army to defend his country, reports what he felt when reading the message of a friend who lives in France. She tells him that she met someone who looks like her, on the terrace of a Parisian café. “I have the feeling, writes Artem Chapeye, that we are fighting not only for our own survival, but also for the future of this guy and his children, in Paris. We defend it against a darker world in which (…) some countries will again be able to occupy others, and millions of people will be forced to choose: flee, hide or join the resistance. »

Yes, in one year we have learned a lot about ourselves: our security is precarious, no peace is ever assured, and our freedoms are at the mercy of potentially hostile regimes. Artem Chapeye’s text is titled “My War”. In a sense, it is also our war.

Source