It sounds as scary as 400 days… 300 days… 200 days… It is unacceptable that in Europe, in our time of peace and prosperity, a bloody war is raging a few hundred kilometers from us.

Radu Marza is a teacher of history and philosophy at UBB Cluj, who deals with the medieval, pre-modern and modern history of the Romanian space and Central Europe, the history of the Slavs, historiography, identity, and travel history.

What would you say in 500 days of war? What hasn’t been said yet? Has everything that needed to be said been said? What else can be said?

First of all, a war-torn country with tens of thousands dead, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands wounded and maimed, people with ruined lives, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of families torn apart by war and the fleeing of civilians before it. We could see unspeakable horrors during these 500 days of war. Artillery strikes that from below, like a house of cards, destroy high-rise buildings and instantly kill dozens of civilians. Missiles were fired at kindergartens, hospitals and maternity homes. Women were raped and trampled by tanks. Hundreds of children killed. Families with suitcases in their hands were killed right on the corner of the street. People were killed in line for bread. People killed on a crowded station platform were trying to board a train that was supposed to take them away from the war. Nene on a bicycle shot just like that, because he was crossing the street. Zoophilia, an incredible amount of zoophilia.

Millions of people who fled the path of war and who, despite the opinion of some tasteless “analysts”, are not “Ukrainians with expensive cars”, but poor people who were forced to leave everything at home. Tens of thousands of people deported against their will to Russia, hundreds and thousands of children, also deported from their families and forcibly integrated into families that, as I find it hard to believe, love them. Maybe I will get some rubles for them.

The cities merged with the land into one: Kharkiv, Bucha, Mariupol, Bakhmut and many others. “One with the earth”—where else have we had occasion to see in our peaceful and prosperous life how true, how real a saying like the above can be? Maybe in Syria. It is just as sad and unacceptable.

The whole world, turned upside down, torn out of its comfort bubble, especially Europe, which, not having experienced wars directly at home, still asks questions, has uncertainty, fears.

A war that opened (= made visible) a huge Pandora’s box of lies and propaganda. Yes, Ukraine is also waging a propaganda war, but Ukraine is an aggressor country, a country that heroically defends itself and which, yes, is waging a propaganda war with great intelligence and humor. A country whose soldiers knew how to inform the enemy, officially and mockingly at the same time, Russian military officer, go to hellto make stamps about it, about the bombing of the Kerch bridge, to transfer the whole world through the image of a Ukrainian prisoner shot in cold blood by the Russians, through the image of St. Javelin and the Patronus dog, through hundreds of images, illustrations and memes with which they shouted their struggle for freedom.

On the other hand, the Evil Empire with its full arsenal of propaganda, lies and manipulation that we see every day since 1917 and even before. At every “true” statement, I stand and wonder and wonder, where do these endless resources come from?, how far can a lie go? Before the war, I would never have believed how deep and complex a lie can be, how many-faceted it is and how extensive this hydra of lies is, poisoning everything it touches. Participation in Brexit, in the election of Donald Trump, in separatist movements in Europe, in the energy policy of Europe, in far-right parties and sovereignist movements in Europe, in particular in Romania, in the press, parties, group interests, wherever Mother Russia is present.

Good news – because it is also good news! is what war, this damned war, will make the Free World stronger. First of all, the amazing Ukraine, a country that was once looked at with skepticism for all its strength, today we wholeheartedly admire it for its courage, strength, perseverance, vitality and patience. But Ukraine is a real people. Many times during these 500 days of war, I have watched the brilliant video taken by President Zelensky on his phone on the evening of February 24, 2022, which begins with the words “Good evening, everyone… the head of the Presidential Administration is here, Prime Minister Shmigal is here, Podolyak is here, the President is here.” .

Since then and to this day, it is one of the doses of optimism that gives me hope.

The truth is that Ukraine was lucky to be led by providential people at such a time. I know that “providential” is a big, very big word, but I also know that I use it as correctly as possible. These people, led by Volodymyr Zelensky, protect not only the country, but also Europe and the world. Everyone can try a little imagination exercise for a few seconds: what would our world look like, starting with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, then the European Union from the Baltic States, Poland and Romania to the west, if Kyiv fell in three days?

Yes, Ukraine protects Europe and the whole world, I say that confidently. Ukraine also protects us, who happily sit with a smartphone in our hands, put likes on Facebook and Instagram, those of us who have water in the tap and whose refrigerator is working and full. We don’t have bombs falling on our heads, we haven’t seen the dead on the street, we shouldn’t bury our dead in front of the house because it’s dangerous to carry them to the cemetery, we don’t have to walk past 10-story apartment buildings that have remained a mountain of smoking ruins. – Read the entire article and comment on Contributors.ro