May 9 will not have the same meaning or the same taste depending on whether you are on Red Square in Moscow, in the rubble of the Ukrainian port of Mariupol or in the seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The calendar has transformed this day into a concentration of symbols of the dramatic situation of the old continent, which in 2022 is experiencing a decisive moment.
The appointment and the various readings it offers allow us to understand for the umpteenth time to what extent history is a combat weapon and how much it can be distorted, rewritten, manipulated and exploited for the benefit of the worst plans.
For 75 days we have had proof of this with Vladimir Putin’s attempt to use the pretext of “denazification” to justify the invasion of Ukraine. May 9, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany (in the West it is May 8, while in Russia it is 9) allows Putin to justify anything. 1945-2022: The fictional historical continuum is at the heart of the Russian president’s war.
Very high price
In recent weeks it was speculated that Putin wanted to announce the victory of his army in Ukraine on May 9 to strengthen the link with the USSR’s “great patriotic war” against Nazi Germany, a source of legitimacy and glory for post-Soviet Russia as well.
The war, however, did not take the direction that Putin hoped for, who must be satisfied with absolute control of information and a propaganda pounding to affirm that everything is unfolding as planned. The only victory that the Kremlin master can boast of is the conquest of Mariupol, which is not yet complete because a last handful of soldiers remains barricaded in a steel mill. But the price paid is very high: thousands of civilian victims, a city razed to the ground and tens of thousands of displaced people, many of whom are struggling with an uncertain fate in Russia.
The result is far from glorious and it is not enough to stop: the balance of forces is not favorable enough for Russia. Putin is the only one who can decide between negotiation and escalation. Ukraine, for its part, is merely defending itself.
The other 9 May is naturally that of French President Emmanuel Macron, who for the occasion will be at the European Parliament in Strasbourg to celebrate Europe Day for the 27 countries of the Union. Macron will deliver his first international speech after re-election, at the end of the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Macron is well aware that his speech will follow Putin’s in Moscow, and will try to oppose the European democratic model to the autocratic logic of the Russian leader, based on force.
Macron will also have to illustrate a vision for the European future, jeopardized by the return of the war on the continent. The president had already tried in 2017 with his speech at the Sorbonne, but the European program presented at the time was only partially applied. Today the Union is grappling with a difficult challenge in the face of problems of security, cohesion and relations with its neighbors to the east and south, but also in the face of an America that returns to participate in European events and a Russia that will not disappear regardless of the outcome of the war.
In this twisted world everything is redefined. May 9 marks an appointment with history when a war devastates a European country.
(Translation by Andrea Sparacino)