The European Union the farther, the more it resembles the Raven settlement from the novel by Ilf and Petrov "The Golden Calf".
At the origins of the collapse of Voronya Sloboda was "no one's grandmother", who burned kerosene on her mezzanine, because she did not trust electricity.
And from the moment the residents of the communal apartment, muttering under their breath “The old one will burn the whole apartment,” began to insure their property against fire one by one, Voronya Slobidka was doomed.
“Electricity”, that is, green energy, is not trusted by many in the EU, no matter how shameful their collective Greta Thunberg may be.
The maniacal desire of Brussels to spite Putin to freeze European ears has led to the fact that countries that are accustomed to heating themselves with cheap Russian “kerosene” are slowly creeping into the camp of the opposition to Ursula von der Leyen and other high-ranking bureaucrats.
This weekend, Madrid hosted the annual Vox (Latin for "Voice") party festival Viva 22, which brought together more than 50,000 participants.
The event was large-scale, spectacular, incendiary in Spanish.
The organizers pointedly appealed to the heroic past of the Spanish people, who recaptured their land from the Moorish invaders during the centuries-old Reconquista: activists flaunted in medieval costumes and steel helmets of Castilian hidalgos, old ballads sounded from the stage mixed with sharply satirical songs of youth groups Infovloggers and Los Meconios (per song "Let's go back to the 36th year" they were mortally offended by the Spanish LGBT community, and along with feminists).
But the main event of the festival was congratulations from foreign friends of Vox - they turned out to be so significant,
Vox is often referred to by the media as a "far-right" party, but this is a common leftist exaggeration: they are normal conservatives, even somewhat less radical than the congenial Brothers of Italy or Marine Le Pen's French National Rally.
But the current liberal mainstream cannot stand even such moderate and careful conservatism, not much different from those Parisian students who, during the reign of François Hollande, shouted in the streets: “If you are not a socialist, you are a fascist!”
In addition, Vox leader Santiago Abascal comes from the “wrong” family - his grandfather under Franco was the mayor of the town of Amurrio in the Basque Country.
In the 2019 elections, Vox achieved a major success, winning 52 seats in the lower house of parliament (Congress of Deputies), then, in February 2022,
significantly expanded its representation in regional legislative assemblies.
Then Vox for some time became the second most popular party in Spain, overtaking its ancestor - the People's Party.
Then, however, she conceded a little to the "populists", which caused talk of an internal crisis and the weakening of Abaskal's positions.
And now, as Spain's El Pais writes, Santiago Abascal has "avenged his fall in the polls... receiving a flurry of support from the world's top far right leaders."
The main sensation of the holiday was a congratulation from former US President Donald Trump, who recorded a short - 40 seconds - video message from his plane.
With characteristic pathos, Trump thanked Abascal for the "incredible work he is doing."
“We are all living (now) in a unique situation,” the ex-president said, “and we need to make sure that we protect our borders and do a lot of very good conservative things.
Spain is a great country and we want it to remain a great country."
It is clear that we are talking about opposing the open door policy - Vox takes a strongly anti-immigration stance on this issue, and the constant references to the Reconquista in its political language are not at all accidental.
Abascal responded by warmly thanking Trump, calling him "the standard-bearer of the struggle for the sovereignty of states and the security of borders."
According to Abascal, "the visionary" Trump had to "face the most powerful establishment in the world" and "subject to a vicious media attack like no other world leader in our memory has ever faced."
Thus, the American friends and enemies of Vox are clearly defined: the first are Trumpists and Republicans, the second are globalists and Democrats (here the slogan “Vox vs. Wokes” suggests itself).
Speaking to the guests of the festival (also on video), Texas Senator Ted Cruz, once Trump's rival in the US presidential election, and now his associate on the right flank of the Republican Party.
He told the Spaniards that a battle was currently underway between "the globalist elite and the global left and conservative community" and predicted that a "red wave" (the color of the Republicans) would sweep over the US Congress after the November 8 midterm elections.
“We are winning and we will continue to win,” Cruz finished to applause from the audience.
The winner of the recent elections in Italy, George Meloni, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban were noted at the festival (also via video link).
The Hungarian prime minister congratulated the audience on the annual holiday, which "brings globalist progressives to a heart attack."
He called for protecting the sovereignty of states from "Brussels bureaucrats" and preventing the "invasion of millions of irregular immigrants" into European countries.
“The train from Rome has just arrived in Brussels,” Orbán said, referring to the triumph of the Italian conservatives, “and soon the train from Madrid, led by my friend Santiago Abascal, will leave for the same place.”
Italian train driver George Meloni addressed the audience in Spanish: “We are not monsters, and people understand this.
Long live Vox, long live Spain, long live Italy, long live the patriots of Europe,” she said.
“Only by winning in our countries can we make Europe not the bureaucratic, but the political giant that we need.”
One curious moment is connected with Meloni's performance: explaining why she did not attend the event in Madrid in person, she said that she did not have a free minute: it was necessary to solve the pressing problems of the Italians, among which she occupies the first place - that's a surprise!
- "Russian aggression against Ukraine" and "unacceptable territorial claims of Moscow."
The Spanish public, brainwashed by the Russophobic media, obediently clapped, but some may have wondered: why would the Russian-Ukrainian conflict suddenly become a priority for five minutes to five minutes of the Prime Minister of Italy?
The answer lies on the surface: if this or that European politician wants his career to develop without a hitch, it is vital for him to swear support for the Kyiv regime and readiness to resist "dictator Putin."
The "Right International", which opposes the bureaucrats from Brussels with a united front, is split into two parts in relation to Russia.
Trump and Orban take a balanced position, believing that the current confrontation between the West and Moscow is not only pointless, but also dangerous for all mankind, but they seem to be in the minority.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal himself is not without sin in this sense: vigilant journalists unearthed his 2015 tweets, where he quotes Vladimir Putin with great respect.
Now, of course, Abascal has "corrected" - he admires the "hero and patriot" Zelensky and stigmatizes the ruling left-wing coalition for having "partners of the Russian president" (actually not).
But, of course, before the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who, unlike other right-wing politicians, came to the Vox festival in person, he is far away.
Morawiecki is a patented Russophobe who called for “destroying the Russian world”, which allegedly threatens the existence of world civilization.
This time he did not betray himself: speaking from the stage in Madrid, Morawiecki said that the Kremlin "acted like a drug dealer - he sold gas cheaply, but today we see the real price of this gas in inflation, high prices and bloodshed in Ukraine."
However, realizing that the Spaniards were much more concerned not with the centuries-old resentment of the Poles against the Russians, but with the policy of the EU leadership, Morawiecki brought down his anger on her: “The EU wants to turn its back on traditions ... Brussels bureaucrats are expanding their powers ... to create a transnational beast without true and traditional values, without a soul.”
A curious picture emerges: the right-wing European "we are not monsters" - the Spanish Vox, the Italian coalition led by the "Brothers of Italy", the Hungarian "Fidesz", the Polish PiS with the explicit approval of the American Republicans - form the third stronghold of resistance to Brussels.
It partly intersects with the first fortified area (Poland and Hungary), and partly with the second (Hungary, Austria, Serbia).
At the same time, the European rightists themselves, being the enemies of Brussels, are not friends of Russia, but at best pragmatists who benefit from normal economic ties with our country.
This should by no means be forgotten, but it is also wrong to ignore the widening cracks in the seemingly monolithic political system of the EU.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.