By Amal Zadok
The whirring of drones mixes with the murmur of debate in Brussels. Soldiers, once a rare sight in German train stations, now move through crowds. Governments invoke “security” to fast-track €800 billion rearmament plans while quietly eroding judicial independence. Across the continent, a question hangs heavy: In their rush to confront a spectre, are europeans surrendering the democratic values that define them?
The Ghost Enemy
Officials call Russia an existential threat—but evidence tells another story. Russia’s intervention in Ukraine began not as conquest, but as a “special military operation. Its stated trigger NATO’s relentless eastward expansion and the prospect of Ukraine joining the alliance—a red line Moscow voiced for decades. Declassified documents show U.S. diplomats acknowledging this tension as early as 1997, with one cable warning: “NATO enlargement will reinforce Moscow’s sense of encirclement”.
Putin’s 2021 ultimatum demanded written guarantees against Ukraine’s NATO membership—a plea dismissed as “non-negotiable” by the West. When diplomacy failed, military action followed. This isn’t expansionism; it’s reaction.
Russia’s military posture remains defensive: fortifications line its NATO borders, not invasion forces. Its crippled army—exhausted in Ukraine—poses no credible threat to Europe. As Putin stated plainly: “Attacking NATO is geopolitical nonsense”.
Manufactured Fear, Real Consequences
Yet Europe acts as if invasion is imminent. Germany shreds its debt brake for a €100 billion arms fund; the EU rushes through €800 billion for “readiness.” This frenzy isn’t about protection—it’s exploiting a crisis to:
“Silence dissent: Critics of militarisation are branded “Putin’s puppets.” Hungary’s Orbán and Poland’s former regime dismantle courts and media under “wartime emergency.”
– “Bypass democracy: Major defence pacts avoid parliamentary scrutiny. Soldiers now patrol French streets during protests—a slide towards pre-WWII policing.
– “Distract from decay: While Germany buys F-35 jets, its hospitals crumble. France funds hypersonic missiles as pension riots burn.
The Authoritarian Turn
This is the real crisis: Europe is resurrecting the ghosts it vowed to bury. The “war on terror” template repeats: an elusive enemy justifies limitless surveillance, frozen assets, and suspended rights.
The European Peace Facility—once a symbol of diplomacy—now funds weapons shipments. “Security” laws criminalise climate protests as “subversion.”
As historian Mark Jones warns: “The 1930s showed how democracies fall—not in coups, but through fear-fueled ‘emergency measures’ that never end.”
Reclaiming the Compass
Prudent defence isn’t betrayal—but sacrificing liberty for a phantom is. The path back demands:
1. Honest diplomacy: Address Russia’s security concerns through revived NATO-Russia talks.
2. Democratic guardrails: No more emergency decrees for arms spending. Parliamentary scrutiny must reign.
3. Focus on peace, not profiteering: Redirect billions from missiles to mediation, energy independence, and social resilience.
“Andreas Öhler, a German pacifist, frames the tension: “I’d fight to defend democracy—not become what we fear.”
Europe isn’t facing invasion. It’s facing a choice: succumb to militarised authoritarianism, or remember that true security lies in justice, dialogue, and the freedoms they have sworn to uphold. The enemy isn’t in Moscow—it’s in the mirror.
Europe’s real betrayal isn’t of Ukraine—it’s of itself. By conjuring invaders to justify barracks politics, surveillance states, and the slow death of dissent, they are resurrecting the very ghosts that once devoured the continent. True security was never in the barrel of a gun; it lives where it always has—in the unbreakable contract between free people and their institutions. Defend that, or become the darkness you pretend to fight.
©️2025 Amal Zadok. All rights reserved
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