We will all be defeated

The escalation of nuclear rhetoric between Washington and Moscow in recent days cannot be seen simply as a way for Trump and Putin to mark the 80th anniversary of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And, despite all the concern it may generate, it's also important not to take the threats too seriously. Essentially, what we're witnessing has a certain Cold War feel, albeit with one fundamental difference: this time, the two leaders don't champion opposing ideologies and even share striking similarities in the way they silence opponents, exert pressure on their adversaries, and use every means at their disposal to strengthen their personal power, allowing only loyal followers to surround them.

This escalation of threats is, rather, a symptom of something broader: the growing power of so-called "strongmen." It's even the consolidation of the "triumph of the brutes" that has marked international politics for about a decade: power wielded by men who concentrate authority, cultivate an image of personal strength, and shamelessly resort to threats as their primary weapon.

With Donald Trump in charge of the White House and his finger on his social media, this style has gained increasing prominence and new imitators. And, little by little, it is dragging the world into a climate of permanent confrontation, always calling for the use of force, which inexorably destroys many of the values and principles that, for a time, we believed should guide political debate and international relations between states.

In the current state of the world, it seems that it no longer matters who is right, but rather who is stronger. And, especially, who threatens with greater intensity, as if they were allowed to do anything and had nothing to lose. International diplomacy, on key issues, has been replaced by power struggles, sanctions, trade wars, and, when the occasion warrants, open military threats.

It seems we're constantly heading toward an imminent and explosive confrontation that, like in adventure films, is averted at the last minute. Here, not by an unlikely hero, but always by the actions of a "strongman," with his inevitable nationalist rhetoric promising dreams of grandeur to his compatriots. We've seen, in so many cases, that none of this is true. It's just the perception they're trying to create. And, as no one doubts anymore, we all know that today we live in a world dominated more by perceptions than by a cold, methodical, and transparent analysis of reality.

This emergence of the power of the "brutes" constitutes the greatest threat to the healthy development of humanity, the defense of human rights, and the values that enable freedom and social and economic justice. The erosion of democratic values is evident, almost everywhere. And not only have feelings of intolerance toward those who think differently grown, but a very old notion that has always been the foundation of humanist thought is disappearing: respect for others, whoever they may be, but who must be respected as human beings.

The way so many traditionally democratic countries have silently watched what is happening in Gaza reveals the world we live in and the erosion of values we should all share, especially since they are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the very creation of the United Nations. When, deliberately, as was done in the ancient sieges of medieval times, populations are starved to death, there can be no political strategy that excuses the "brute" who commands this extermination. For much less, for example, interventions by international forces have already been initiated to prevent situations that did not reach this barbarity. And it is increasingly unacceptable that Israel continues to prohibit international observers and journalists from entering the territory so they can freely report what is really happening.

In Gaza, hidden from the world's gaze, not only is a population being decimated by starvation and gunfire. It is humanity itself that, when it chooses silence, ends up under siege and abandons the values that should guide it. And when this happens, just as if there were a nuclear war, one conclusion is inevitable: we will all be defeated.