The Bankrupt Hypocrisy of the West: Sanctions, Silence, and the Descent into Total War
In the summer of 2026, the European political order stands more exposed than ever to the merciless gaze of history. What was presented after the Second World War as an unshakeable project of peace, prosperity, human rights and shared values has rapidly degenerated into an elitist, bellicose power apparatus. This apparatus sacrifices its own population on the altar of geopolitical obsessions and imperial reflexes, while simultaneously conducting a cover‑up of epic proportions over its own crimes and those of its allies.
By Frank Dumon
This article synthesises three crucial sources of analysis that together paint a startling but necessary picture of our times.
Bankrupt and fraudulent: EU sanctions Russia while silent on U.S., Israeli genocide Censored in the EU
A sharp condemnation of the EU's sanctions policy against Russia, which is not only economic suicide but also legally illegal.
Unrelenting chaos around the globe
A transcript of the fearless parliamentarians Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, who mercilessly dissect the global escalation in Iran, the strangulation of Cuba and the militarisation madness in Europe.
Francesca Albanese: We are in the hands of predatory elites
The testimony of UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese on the systematic destruction in Gaza that can legally be classified as genocide.
For the critical mind in Europe, it is no longer a matter of political preference or ideological nuance. It is a moral and intellectual necessity to understand, name and refuse to go along with this centralised propaganda. We are witnessing the end of an illusion: the illusion that the West can still be the moral arbiter of the world.
The Illusion of European Moral Authority: Sanctions as an Instrument of Total War
The European Union this week announced its 21st package of political and economic sanctions against the Russian Federation. With an almost religious, sanctimonious self‑righteousness, the leaders of the 27 member states claim that these measures are a necessary and principled punishment for the so‑called 'unprovoked aggression' and invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022. But anyone who looks beyond the centralised, monolithic Western media propaganda and dares to face objective historical facts recognises in this rhetoric nothing but a farce of historic proportions.
History teaches us that this conflict did not come out of nowhere. It is the direct, predictable result of decades of provocations. It began with the violent coup orchestrated by the United States and its NATO partners in Kiev in 2014 (the Euromaidan), followed by the deliberate arming, financing and political support of a regime that the West used as a geopolitical battering ram against Russia. That a large part of the European population is unaware of this history is no coincidence, but the direct result of years of systematic brainwashing by the Western media, which banishes all nuance in favour of a black‑and‑white narrative of 'good versus evil'.
The EU's sanctions policy should therefore not be understood as an instrument of diplomatic pressure, nor as an act of moral support for Ukraine as a victim. It is, as a former French finance minister clumsily but revealingly admitted in March 2022, a form of 'Total War'. It is economic warfare, intended to destroy Russia's infrastructure, currency and society. This takes place in parallel with and in support of the military attacks of the NATO‑armed Ukrainian regime, which is now using long‑range missiles to strike deep into Russian oil and gas infrastructure.
The goal is identical: maximum confrontation to defeat Russia, not to make peace.
These unilateral sanctions are not only counterproductive; they are fundamentally illegal under international law. They explicitly violate the United Nations Charter, which prohibits such economic coercion, and in essence constitute an act of criminal aggression. In doing so, the EU – just like the United States, which is currently subjecting more than 30 countries (including Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba) to economic blackmail – is committing a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of other nations.
The policy also meets the clinical definition of insanity: repeatedly performing the same useless action in the expectation of a different outcome. Russia is undoubtedly the most sanctioned country in modern history, with hundreds of banks, businesses and individuals targeted. Yet the Russian economy has not collapsed. On the contrary, the country has successfully reoriented its trade flows towards the Global South and Asia. In an ironic, tragic twist of fate, it is the European economies that are suffering severely from this self‑imposed exclusion. The loss of affordable Russian energy has led to a rapid, irreversible de‑industrialisation of the continent. Germany, once the undisputed economic engine of Europe, is now forced to import more expensive American liquefied natural gas (LNG). This undermines the historic competitive position of European industry and makes the continent dependent on the whims of Washington.
The bill is inevitably presented to the European citizen. A population of 500 million people is confronted with a catastrophic cost of living, directly and demonstrably caused by the policies of their own leaders. These so‑called representatives of the people are decimating their own societies without any democratic mandate. They impose a ruinous policy as a dictate, further fuelling tensions and hostilities towards an all‑out war.
The cracks in this bankrupt edifice are becoming visible to anyone who cares to look. The negotiations on the 21st sanctions package were chaotic and certainly not unanimous. Greece demanded exemptions for international shipping of Russian oil and gas. Germany and Portugal asked for exceptions to sanctions on Russian fisheries. Austria, Bulgaria, France and Italy all filed appeals to protect their various national economic interests. As Euronews headlined: Chaotic sanctions negotiations expose cracks in EU front against Russia. A diplomat put it succinctly: "It is becoming increasingly difficult to find common ground. The Commission is running out of options. Each package becomes more complex and takes more time to negotiate." This is the sound of a politically insolvent elite in Brussels. Floating on a deep‑rooted Russophobia, these officials are making the European citizen a victim of their own failing, illegal ideas.
The Hypocrisy of the West: Silence on Iran, Cuba and Palestine
The true nature of this European leadership crisis, however, only becomes fully visible when we broaden our view to the global stage. The hypocrisy is glaring and undeniable. While Brussels busies itself with the 21st round of anti‑Russian sanctions, it remains completely silent about the massive war crimes being committed by the United States and the Israeli regime. This double standard is not an accidental diplomatic blind spot; it is the unmistakable proof of systematic fraud, political bankruptcy and moral corruption. There was a time when some European politicians spoke out against American wars. That time is over. The entire European political class is rotten with corruption and complicity.
Escalation and Blockade of Iran: War Crimes in the Shadows
As Mick Wallace and Clare Daly powerfully emphasise in their recent analysis, the escalation in the Middle East has reached a critical and life‑threatening point. The United States has been waging an aggressive war against Iran for months, with daily and nightly bombardments of critical infrastructure. This does not happen in a geopolitical vacuum, but often deliberately during ongoing negotiation processes – a tactic of pure intimidation. History repeats itself in a sinister way: the US also bombed Iran during negotiations in June 2025 and again in February 2026.
Recently, during the mourning period after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, American attacks intensified on cities in southern Iran, near the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. This is a 100% war crime, in violation of every international treaty and every norm of civilised behaviour. The Western media are silent about it, or frame it as 'necessary defence' against an invented threat. Meanwhile, Iran, which initially acted with restraint in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on maritime monitoring, has now had to retaliate against American military bases in the Gulf states that facilitate these criminal attacks.
The geopolitical dynamics around the Strait of Hormuz are explosive. The Americans tried, through Oman, under threat of violence and wiping the country off the map, to force their shipping through. Oman capitulated, but this violated the agreement that Iran would monitor shipping free of charge for 60 days. The American attacks on ships on the Omani side compelled Iran to maintain its control over the waterway. The Strait of Hormuz is, in a sense, Iran's 'nuclear weapon': it gives the country enormous economic leverage over the world economy. Donald Trump's threat to impose tolls here (up to 20% per barrel of oil, amounting to tens of dollars per barrel) is an act of economic terrorism with no legal basis.
The European silence on this is deafening. Where is the outrage over the violation of freedom of navigation? Where is the condemnation of the murder of a spiritual and political leader – something that, were it to happen to a Western leader, would trigger an international crisis of unprecedented proportions in Europe? The massive turnout of an estimated 30 million Iranians (almost a third of the population) during the mourning ceremonies shows a unity and resilience that the West continues to underestimate. This popular support gives Iran the backing to remain steadfast and not give in to the Strait blackmail.
Moreover, the transcript reveals an intriguing dynamic within the American elite itself, with figures such as J.D. Vance possibly trying to position themselves against the pure warmongering of Marco Rubio – not out of moral conviction, but out of electoral opportunism. Meanwhile, these elites, including figures around Trump, are making fortunes by speculating on the markets based on war news, while ordinary people pay the price in rising energy costs and uncertainty.
The Blockade of Cuba: A Silent Dossier of Murder
On the other side of the world, an equally gruesome but even less hopeful tragedy is unfolding: the situation in Cuba. Under the pressure of a maximum blockade by Washington, partly facilitated and fuelled by the warmongering rhetoric of figures like Marco Rubio, the Cuban people are being systematically suffocated.
The reality on the ground, as described in a devastating report from a member of the Irish Communist Party currently staying in Havana, is apocalyptic. Residents of apartments on the 18th floor are trapped without working lifts. There is no running water, meaning toilets cannot be flushed and the air is saturated with the smell of faeces. People cannot wash, cook or clean. This is not 'policy' or a 'challenge'; this is terrorism. It is a deliberate, organised act of mass murder by the United States against a sovereign people.
Shocking reports indicate that in recent months alone, 1,800 children have died in Cuba as a direct result of the lack of electricity and the collapse of medical infrastructure. By comparison, the world stood still after 9/11, when 3,000 victims fell. But 1,800 dead children in Cuba, or the more than 70,000 dead children in Gaza, generate no indignation whatsoever in European capitals. The Irish government, nor the broader EU, has condemned these barbaric acts.
Silence is complicity. It is proof that international law is merely an instrument used by the West against its rivals, while for itself and its allies it does not exist. Cuba, famous for its international solidarity, sending doctors to the ends of the earth and its medical innovations, is now being punished because it does not submit to the imperial will of Washington. European left‑wing parties and governments, which once would have stood up for the weak, are looking away. This is the definitive proof of their moral bankruptcy.
Gaza and the Necrocapitalist War Machine
The situation in Palestine represents the absolute nadir of this Western moral decay. Francesca Albanese, the UN Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, has unequivocally and substantively stated in her reports that what is happening in Gaza meets the legal definition of genocide. This is not political rhetoric or activism, but a legal finding based on Article II of the Genocide Convention: acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such.
The Frustration of Humanitarian Aid and the Torture of Children
The destruction in Gaza is not an 'accident of war' or 'collateral damage'. It is a systematic, deliberate policy. Israel has, as Albanese sharply notes, used aid and food as a weapon for decades, but the current scale and intensity are unprecedented in modern history. The population is reduced to living in tent camps, exposed to the elements, while access to medical care, food and water is deliberately blocked as a means of collective punishment.
The testimonies about the fate of Palestinian children are heartbreaking and should sicken anyone with a human conscience. Gaza now has the highest number of child amputations in world history. Children undergo amputations without anaesthesia, because anaesthetics have run out or hospitals have been destroyed. Children so severely malnourished that they have eaten animal feed and become intoxicated, with lifelong damage. Children found with bullets in their heads. This is not 'self‑defence'; this is the work of an army of child killers, backed by a political leadership that openly calls for destruction and displacement.
Albanese's report on 'torture and genocide' was dismissed by Israel with the usual, hollow accusation of anti‑Semitism. This is a diversionary tactic that has by now lost its effect on every independent observer. The UN Committee against Torture has already confirmed that Israel's acts against thousands of Palestinians, both inside and outside prisons, amount to a systematic policy of torture that contributes to the genocide. The suffering inflicted in the West Bank mirrors the horror in Gaza, demonstrating that the ultimate goal is the total destruction of Palestinian viability.
Necrocapitalism: War as a Profit Model
Why does this continue? Because there is money to be made. We are witnessing the rise of what Albanese aptly calls 'necrocapitalism': an economic model that profits from death, destruction and displacement. The occupation economy has evolved into a genocide economy.
Large technology companies, defence contractors and financial institutions (such as Palantir and other stock market players) see their share prices rise while the region is being razed. The expansionist agenda of Israel and the US in the Middle East is driven by these imperial and commercial interests. It is a stark paradox that ordinary American citizens, who struggle to make ends meet and cannot afford medical care, are indirectly investing in the destruction of Gaza through their taxes and pension funds. The elite enriches itself; the working class, both in the Middle East and in the West, pays the price with their lives, their prosperity and their humanity.
The sanctions that the United States has personally imposed on Francesca Albanese are the ultimate proof of the weakness and fear of this system. When legal and moral arguments can no longer be refuted, they fall back on intimidation and silencing the messenger. It punishes her for exercising her freedom of speech – a right that is supposedly sacred in the West, as long as it does not expose the wrong truths about power.
The Escalation towards Total War: Europe as a Pawn of the US
Returning to the European continent, the situation is equally alarming. The European political class seems to have lost all contact with reality. Instead of advocating for diplomacy, they embrace a dangerous militarisation. We see this in the approval of Ukrainian attacks with long‑range weapons deep into Russian territory, targeting oil and gas infrastructure, with NATO's blessing.
This is a game of fire of the most dangerous kind. Russia, together with the US, possesses 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. The European leaders, hiding behind NATO, seem to forget that an escalation that boxes Russia into a corner will not lead to a peaceful capitulation, but to an asymmetric and possibly nuclear response. The rhetoric within the Russian establishment is already beginning to shift towards a reconsideration of its nuclear doctrine, a direct consequence of Western provocations.
The European media play a reprehensible and undeniable role in this. Instead of critically examining the causes of the conflict and the interests of the defence industry, they act as a megaphone for war propaganda. Politicians in countries like Ireland recently claimed that solving the housing crisis or investing in healthcare has become a "luxury" because "there is war at our door". This reasoning is cunning and misleading. The war did not just knock; it has been actively fuelled and sustained by the same elites who are now cutting social security. It is a diversionary tactic to justify the dismantling of the welfare state under the guise of national security.
History teaches us that rival imperialist powers similarly sleepwalked into a world war in 1914 and 1939, driven by a mixture of greed, ideological blindness and the failure of the diplomatic apparatus. The current "coalitions of the willing" and military parades in European capitals are not signs of strength, but of a desperate attempt to mask an untenable geopolitical position. Europe is industrialising itself out of the market, alienating itself from potential partners in the Global South, and making itself vulnerable to the whims of Washington.
Silencing Dissent: The Criminalisation of Solidarity
A hallmark of any bankrupt regime is the need to suppress dissent and criminalise solidarity. We are seeing a global, coordinated attack on activism, solidarity and freedom of speech. The most recent and starkest example is the case of Fergie Chambers.
Chambers, an American philanthropist from a billionaire family who has used his fortune to support progressive causes worldwide, was arrested in Spain in July on the basis of a sealed indictment. The charge is said to revolve around "financing terrorism". The reality is that Chambers funded humanitarian projects, such as water desalination plants in Palestine, schools for children, and mental health programmes for orphans in Gaza.
His arrest and the threat of extradition to the United States are a horrific violation of international law and a dangerous precedent. Under current US law, reinforced by recent anti‑terrorism conferences that target left‑wing activists, anti‑fascists and solidarity movements, a fair trial for Chambers in the US is impossible. We have already seen how activists in the US are sentenced to hundreds of years in prison based on their membership of a left‑wing book club.
The Spanish government now faces a moral test. Will it bow to pressure from Washington, even after Trump recently threatened to stop trade with Spain because of its stance on Israel and Palestine? The extradition of Chambers would be a betrayal of every principle of justice. It makes clear that solidarity with the Palestinian people, or with any oppressed people, is increasingly treated as a criminal activity in the North.
This trend is not limited to individuals. Organisations, book clubs and academics are being intimidated. The British government recently placed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on a terrorist list, while the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, go free. This selective application of the term 'terrorism' reveals the term for what it is: a political label to delegitimise opponents and protect own allies from accountability.
Conclusion: The Necessity of Organised Resistance
The synthesis of these three sources leads to an inescapable, sombre but enlightening conclusion: we are in the grip of predatory elites. The European Union has lost its soul. It has become a bureaucratic, bellicose project that sacrifices its own citizens for the geopolitical ambitions of a failing American hegemon, while closing its eyes to the atrocities in Gaza, Cuba and Iran. The West is trying to hold back history, but the rise of the Global South and the resilience of peoples such as those in Iran, Russia and Palestine show that these imperial reflexes will no longer go unpunished.
It is not enough to be outraged about this. Outrage without action is merely a form of intellectual self‑pity. The message we must adopt is that of organised solidarity. We cannot throw our hands up and say the system is too big to defeat. As Malcolm X once said: never let the enemy tell you how many of them there are.
The majority of people, both in Europe and beyond, realise that the system is broken. They feel the rising costs, they see the destruction on their screens, and they sense the absence of democratic control. The task now is to transform this dispersed discontent into coordinated, organised power. This means putting pressure on local and national governments, supporting independent media, financially and politically backing solidarity movements (such as those for Cuba and Palestine), and refusing to take part in the war rhetoric.
The autumn of 2026 will be crucial. The world stands at a crossroads. We can continue to sleepwalk towards the abyss of a third world war, fuelled by the profits of the defence industry and the hypocrisy of Brussels and Washington. Or we can choose the difficult but necessary path of truth, justice and humanity. For the readers of this platform, who understand history and view the world through a critical, independent lens, that choice has already been made. It is now time to act upon it. The time for silence is over; the time for organised truth and unwavering solidarity has arrived.