UKRAINE : JUST PRETEND TO KNOW WHAT NOT TO DO
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UKRAINE : JUST PRETEND TO KNOW WHAT NOT TO DO
Photo Source: Antonino Rampulla



The thousands of people who last night, February 24, 2022, crowded the squares of the main Russian cities to protest against the invasion of Ukraine , aware of the risk of suppressions and arrests (which took place on time), are carriers of the strongest critical and ethical stance of these unfortunate days. It is the evidence of how much the arbitrary historical exploitation, dangerous because if they became accepted customary they would justify any ambition of "D'Annunzio" (including the Chinese claims of Taiwan ), are considered insane even by a good portion of the Russian population.

The urgent question to be resolved concerns the rules of relativism . Speaking only of what I have direct memory of (having personally experienced all the media narrative), I wonder what is "ethically" the difference between the invasions of Kuwait, the abuses of Milosevic, Assad or Gaddafi, compared to the invasion of 'Ukraine (as I am writing, Putin's troops are a few kilometers from Kiev, with all due respect to the exclusive protection of the pro-Russian Donbass). Why hasn't "very heavy sanctions" been thought of also for Iraq or Serbia , instead of putting them on fire? Among other things, "very heavy sanctions" whose repercussions are much more serious for Europeans than for Americans... Unfortunately, the answer, net of diplomatic parlor rhetoric, is a disconcerting banality: Putin not only has hypersonic missiles, difficult to intercept, capable of carrying nuclear warheads but also the right dose of madness to use them (as he has, not too subtly, already threatened to do); moreover, it is evident that it is not too "convenient" to preserve the integrity of Ukraine... In short, it is not worth it... Defend themselves... After all, Ukraine is not part of NATO! What about Kuwait? And Kosovo? Were they part of NATO?

In short, the ethics that justify the military interventions of the sheriffs of the universe is relative (relative to how militarily strong the opponent is, relative to how economically convenient it is). From this conclusion I do not want to simplistically deduce that the "right thing" to do is to intervene militarily in defense of Ukraine, because nuclear retaliation is a real problem . However, the fact remains that the school bully is slaughtering our little friend before our eyes and we are not doing anything, except to tell him that we will no longer play with him. The bully will probably be hurt afterwards, but in the meantime he continues to slaughter our weak friend. These are the facts. This is our helplessness that lays bare our hypocritical and relative ethics .

I do not want to further burden the discussion but today certain philosophical puzzles are very urgent and topical . Because this immobility is very reminiscent of that leap into the dark that Kierkegaard was hinting at, which we are not willing to take. This pretending to know what to do (or rather, what not to do) is the betrayal of the radical assumption of responsibility that for Heidegger defined (pardon the simplifying barbarism) the very essence of man (in fact for the German philosopher, paraphrasing a lot, the being there is the being for which, in the practice of its existence, its very being is at stake). In short, we would almost "instinctively" know what to do (ie that Putin's madness should be stopped ) but we do not know how to do it (and what little we do is not really doing it) due to the legitimate fear of the potential consequences in destructive terms. At least in 1939 there was still no nuclear deterrence...
If a world referendum asked me if I am in favor of the abolition of national armies, today I would probably have a hard time answering yes, thinking of "all-Russian" fanaticism today or of the Islamic State yesterday. And I'm sorry if I lost the romance of the twenty years. In my heart I still feel a nonviolent. However, what if the Putin on duty invented an anachronistic irredentism that would jeopardize the house where I am giving my children a roof?
Text Source: Antonino Rampulla
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