Sánchez's silence regarding the situation in Europe and its consequences for Ceuta

I make a habit of checking international political news every day, and right now I’m facing a strange situation.

What Russia seeks by launching a military escalation against certain European countries
Worrying signs on NATO's eastern flank due to maneuvers in Belarus

I live in a country—Spain—where politicians, journalists, and other influential figures pride themselves on being "pro-European," yet we simultaneously treat European affairs as if they did not affect us. Over the past two days, you have been able to read here about worrying signs on NATO's eastern flank regarding potential Russian aggression against allied nations, as well as an analysis of the Kremlin's objectives behind this military escalation. What I presented in both articles is the result of hours spent reviewing various sources and watching—with growing concern—a situation that deteriorates by the day.

Europe is currently experiencing one of its most tense military moments in 81 years—that is, since the end of the Second World War. I do not wish to sound alarmist, as I do not believe a third world war is imminent; however, our continent is about to face a significant challenge in securing its peace and stability in the face of Russian bullying that seems willing to go to any lengths to satisfy the whims of dictator Vladimir Putin. As we saw on Friday, several European countries are preparing to face military threats, whether in the form of small-scale conventional attacks or a hybrid warfare strategy.

Some of us have spent years warning about the need to confront the Russian threat. Others have preferred to downplay it, treating it as a distant, unrelated matter that does not affect us, while forgetting that Russia has spent four and a half years invading a European country and slaughtering its civilian population—committing atrocities that, curiously, receive not even a tenth of the attention given to the complaints voiced by Hamas criminals following Israel’s response to the antisemitic massacre perpetrated by that terrorist group on October 7, 2023.

Warnings are increasingly being heard from the rest of Europe. Yesterday, the National Rally—Marine Le Pen’s French party—joined in sounding the alarm, warning: "No provocation, no covert operation, and no destabilizing action will lead France to facilitate Russia’s achievement of its war objectives in Ukraine." We can gauge the state of affairs by reading this stern statement from a party that was once sympathetic to Russia but finally seems to be coming to its senses regarding that threat.

Over the last two days, I have reviewed the channels of Spanish political leaders and major media outlets to see what they had to say about the growing concern in Europe regarding the rising Russian threat. It is disheartening to witness the silence of political leaders and the media's lack of interest in this matter. I suppose the serious crisis caused by the Moroccan-orchestrated migrant influx into Ceuta plays a role in this, but it is particularly surprising to look at the international affairs sections of certain newspapers and see almost nothing about it. This scant media coverage likely means that our politicians—who rely on these outlets for information—remain unaware of the situation (or, in some cases, such as the government, pretend not to notice).

We must remember that in April, Russia threatened several European countries by designating military targets within their territories —Spain being one of them— yet the issue went largely unnoticed here, as if threats of military action against us by a major power were of no consequence. At times, it seems we are adopting the ostrich defense strategy, burying our heads in the sand in the hope that the threats will pass us by simply because we choose to ignore them. Regrettably, Spain faces this situation with a severely weakened government that displays embarrassing incompetence, and whose leader seems intent on shirking responsibility for the problems surrounding him while seeking the best way to cling to power for another day, regardless of the cost.

In March, I warned here about the consequences for Ceuta and Melilla of Sánchez’s slights against our allies. Spain is now mired in a critical situation due to an act of hybrid warfare by Morocco. Although it may be a remote possibility, if our country were to go to war with Morocco, we would need our allies' support more than ever; to merit that support, we must convince our allies that we are a trustworthy country that honors its commitments. Instead, Sánchez turns a blind eye to the Russian threat while Spain, under his leadership, purchases large quantities of Russian gas—as if, by doing so, we were paying blackmail money to the Moscow bully to keep him from messing with us. This is a shameful attitude that could come at a high strategic cost to Spain, threatening to leave our country isolated when it needs our allies' help. Yet another act of irresponsibility by this government.

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Photo: La Moncloa.