If in 2022 the President of any country has to walk on Churchill's shoes in order to save his country from today's Hitler (and therefore act for the good of the whole free world) then it's hard to give no as answer. That's what Zelensky did yesterday in this historic speech which triggered a well deserved standing ovation in the House of Commons:
When I heard him matching Churchill's words to his case I felt a crack inside me. Witnessing history repeating in the most tragic way is far from fun but Ukrainians know this now better than anyone else. All this vast access to information and free exchange of opinions that we have today via internet went flushed in the toilet as we are still naively vulnerable to the ones waiting to walk on Hitler's and Stalin's shoes. It seems that no alarmists are enough to wake up people early enough as they are bound to make the same mistakes over and over again and I felt it almost all the times I tried for example to convince my German friends about the toxicity of Merkelism which encourages Putinism.
Exactly 3 years ago (a year before I joined this platform) I was wondering on my personal blog (post is here but it's all Greek to you) if humans will ever miraculously manage to make a milestone in history interrupting the repetitiveness of totalitarian regimes and their consequences. I was also commenting on how those regimes today prefer to dress up as democracies contrary to the old juntas who didn't spend much time and money about their optics. On the same post I also commented on how funny it is (especially for us Greeks) to recall Marx more often than Thucydides. As we know the former said "history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce" but the latter was more spot on and way much earlier than Marx (by a couple of thousands of years) as he made it clear that "the same things will keep happening over and over again infinitely as long as the nature of people doesn't change". And it seems that it doesn't change, or at least not enough.
Is it all black then?
Not really. Let's see where the bright side of things is, more specifically what is bright about Ukrainian future and what could motivate people even more to stay strong till this madness comes to an end:
As far as I can see Putin will not manage to realise his dreams about Kiev. The local resistance is much more than he expected, the locals are getting more support from abroad, the weather turns the fields in muddy swamps, the sanctions already started biting which will lead more pressure from people and oligarchs against him and the list goes on. This unfortunately leads him to aim on civilians and their infrastructure instead but this doesn't guarantee him a win though it's impossible for any sane person to stomach this monstrosity. At the end of this madness Ukraine will be a free country, even though it will be devastated and exhausted and maybe with less land in the East than it used to own once upon a time.
BUT!
The amount of money waiting to flow from abroad (except the ones flowing already) in order to rebuilt this country will be extraordinary. Just don't let local corruption eat the fat. Read what happened on Marshal's plan in Greece post WWII and learn from our mistakes. Huge growth and employment is waiting for Ukraine.
EU membership will make the country's life so much easier. Trading and travelling will become effortless compared to what it was before which will add to the growth.
Ukraine will step out of the war with a globally popular President. This is a priceless asset especially considering how the war has offered this guy insane amount of managerial experience.
Last but definitely not least though, I would like to mention the CIVIC CAPITAL that Ukraine will have accumulated when the war will be over. I remember President Zelensky commenting how Ukrainians forgave each other during the war and united to fight as one. This thing alone multiplies the potentials of a country. Trust me, coming from Greece I know pretty well the disastrous consequences of divisive tensions but I'm sure Ukrainians have their share too (if not a much larger one actually).
Good luck Ukraine!