Late Edwardian atmospheres in the photograph of a train running in the night of a European country, with three heads of state on board. Boiserie, polished wooden table, short curtains with gusset and double embroidery. It is exactly the Orient Express of a century ago, captured by everyone’s imagination, and forever, by Agatha Christie. Train symbol of the travels of the imperial elites, which started from the heart of Europe along the Balkan routes to arrive at the first shore of the East, Istanbul. In 1934, when Agatha Cristie tells it, the train no longer has Empires to connect – the Ottoman Empire is finished, like all the others, overwhelmed by the First World War and broken up by what is defined “A Peace to End All Peace ”in the book by David Fromkin, a point of reference in the history of the creation of the new Middle East.
In that train of “Murder on the Orient Express” under the elegance of Edwardian memory, characters who are the shadows of the past and the ambiguities of the Europe of that moment are agitated – permanent exiled Russian princesses, rich Americans, German cooks, northern nannies Europeans, suicidal maids, British colonels who fought in India, and last but not least a Belgian, the famous Hercule Poirot, a former police officer, who remembers all the Belgians who fled to Britain when Hitler invaded the country.
A mosaic of classes, but above all of estrangement, in the year in which Hitler becomes head of state and government in Germany. All ghosts of the fragmentation of Europe in the midst of a new storm: which in the book is the snowstorm that blocks the train and forces everyone to come to terms with himself.
In the current European night there is another armored train that runs through a country, Ukraine, which also overlooks the Black Sea. And, if we really want to force on the echoes, it is impossible not to think that a European storm is underway. once again – unpredictable, indeed unthinkable, until a few months ago. Its strength is measurable by the fact that three European leaders, in shirts and sweaters, go at night to the outpost of an Empire that is no longer an Empire, Russia. Modern communication has produced here a narrative core in a single frame.
But apart from this effective emotional impact, what exactly do we know about this mission, what are the aims of the three heads of state who in the era of global virtual interconnection travel – without wifi – in an armored train? What mandate do they have, what do they bring and what do they ask for, and above all where do they want to go? Their mission to Ukraine has been followed with great generosity and curiosity by the global media, and yet, at its conclusion, it remains an enigma.
The simplest interpretation is completely evident, and it is that – said Draghi – in the final intervention, of a proof of “unity” in Europe in offering “unconditional support to President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people. A people that has made an army to repel the aggression of Russia, to live in freedom ». The m“Most important” says Draghi “of our visit is that Italy wants Ukraine to join the European Union. And he wants Ukraine to have candidate status and will support this position in the next European Council ”. Wheat, Reforms, are the dossiers on the table, but the line held up to now remains: «Ukraine must defend itself if we want peace, and Ukraine will choose the peace it wants. Any diplomatic solution cannot be separated from the will of Kiev, from what it deems acceptable to her people. This is the time for Europe ».
These are statements which, however, indirectly open up to other reflections: does not this test of unity thus underlined perhaps allude to serious internal divisions in Europe on the question of Ukraine as a Member State? A division that is perceived with some concern also by the words spoken by the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola: «Today’s visit is not only symbolic, but politically crucial in view of what we will decide next week». In fact, on 23 and 24 the European Council is convened, with a single word at the top of the agenda: Ukraine. Also for this meeting an indirect indication of divisions is given: “EU leaders will discuss the situation in Ukraine, discuss the economic situation, define the way forward regarding the Conference on the future of Europe and hold a strategic discussion on relations of the European Union with its partners in Europe ‘.
Immediately after the EU Council we will enter another “crucial” meeting: the NATO Summit in Madrid on 29 and 30 June, which, according to secretary Stoltenberg “will transform NATO”. In fact, this is one of the summits in which NATO reformulates a document – called the “Strategic Concept” – about its mission and identity in the face of new security scenarios approximately every 10 years. Since the end of the Cold War, these scenarios have been updated every 10 years. The last in Lisbon in 2010.
In short, if you look at the mission in Ukraine in recent hours, it is difficult not to see it as part of an initiative that started a few weeks ago, made up of various steps, which appear to be perfectly coordinated. It begins with Von der Leyen who meets Macron in Paris on 3 June. On 9 June he is in Rome for a “cultural” event but sees the Pope and Mattarella. At the same time, Draghi is having dinner at Macron’s. On 11 June, the president unexpectedly visited Kiev for security reasons and met the country’s top institutional leaders.
At that point, it was learned of the visit of the three leaders to Ukraine. However, anticipated by a visit, also announced shortly in advance, by Draghi to Israel. Officially a courtesy visit, but it does not escape anyone that Naftali Bennett, the prime minister, has Putin’s ear.
Thus we arrive at these hours. A very intense diplomatic construction and very built to be just a test of unity. And so we return to the main question, which remains in the shade: was Putin in any way involved, or at least warned, about these activities? Putin, which one will have to reach sooner or later if we want to talk about peace, is somehow within this framework, are there initiatives underway to involve Moscow?
The enigma of these hours is this. Because if the Russian leader looks at these movements in one way or another, it makes an abysmal difference – even in the judgment of the trip of the three to Ukraine, if Putin looks at European initiatives even with a silent assent, something is moving on the front. of negotiations. Otherwise we are in the usual movement, the classic Franceschiello’s “ammuina”.
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