World War III could be titled "the war on terror." That blatant arms race, which was about publicizing military power, is becoming obsolete. Now, smaller states have entered the board.
The United States (USA), as a result of the 9/11 attacks, has managed to lead an increasingly large coalition of states. These do not show public awareness of where they are getting into: they pretend that we, their inhabitants, are ignorant of the consequences of the bombings of Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, Syria... Wars, now, as always, are not achieved without pain and deaths on all sides. So that the states, however small, will defend themselves by making a dent in the civilian populations of the "great powers": in the hearts of the nation, without the need for transatlantic missiles.
The recent attacks, or attacks, carried out against the heart of France cost 129 civilian lives. Let's continue with the balances of the terrorist wars: "(In Syria) At least 52 civilians, including 7 children, have lost their lives in a bombing launched by planes of the international coalition, (...) by mistake" according to the EFE agency in early May of this year.
It must be clear that France closed 2014 with a population of 63,920,000 people. Therefore, 129 victims represent 0.000201% of its population. And if Syria ended 2014 with a population of 23,300,738 people, and we do not consider the loss of population that the emigration of 2015 has meant, the 52 civilians killed in May are 0.000223%. Those 52 Syrian civilians are equivalent, in proportion, to 150 French civilians. Here we are talking about a single bombing, when there have been many and they also increased after the Paris massacre.
The big difference is that in Syria everyone knows they are at war. They suffer it daily. But in France, or other countries that join the US coalition, citizens are very ignorant of the extent that it may have, for themselves, that their country forms a side in these wars.
All this comes to the fore because of a television survey I saw the other day. In it, the interviewees, or the majority, were in favor of Spanish military intervention in Syria. If it were to be so, it can no longer take us by surprise that jihadist warmongering returns to the state of southern Europe. Things are not otherwise.
By Pedro M. González Cánovas
