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New Cult of the Leader, Stockholm Syndrome, and Denial of Causality – When Defending the Political Narrative Becomes More Important Than RealityWhile forests are burning across Spain, France, and other parts of Europe, threatening lives, homes, and livelihoods, the comments beneath the article “EU Governments Let Europe Burn: Russian Firefighting Aircraft and Helicopters Banned – Sanctions Matter More Than Human Lives!” provide a textbook example of political pathology. 
Two of the usual suspects – Christian Pagel and Mischa Lombard – passionately defend the fact that EU sanctions have grounded Russian Kamov firefighting helicopters and firefighting aircraft. Spare parts are unavailable, maintenance is impossible. Spanish politicians had publicly criticized this. The fires could have been contained more quickly and more effectively. But for these two, this is not a scandal; it is proof of moral superiority. The sanctions remain sacred and untouchable—no matter the cost. Pagel opens with the classic troll cudgel: “The Kremlin trolls have been telling each other the latest lies again.” When asked to provide evidence, he responds with his own declaration of intellectual bankruptcy: “What is there to refute in Kremlin troll garbage? Your lies or those of those two brainwashed idiots? But it's adorable that Russian aircraft can no longer fly and no longer have certification.” Later he escalates: “Go on licking the boots of the Kremlin trolls.” And later still: “The fact that you say Russia didn't ask for sanctions shows what a pathetic Kremlin troll you are. You've been living in your psychoses instead of reality for a long time!” Insults replace arguments. Pagel remains true to form: The opponent is not merely wrong; he is stupid, brainwashed, psychotic, and a bootlicker. The aggression is naked and indiscriminate. Lombard—whose profile picture features a dove of peace with the caption “Ready to Defend Peace”—tries a more sophisticated approach, but one that is no less dogmatic. According to him, the article engages in “emotional fearmongering” while omitting the crucial context. Yes, the sanctions make operating Russian firefighting aircraft more difficult, “but that is not their purpose.” What matters, he argues, is this: “Without Russia's illegal war of aggression in violation of international law, these sanctions would not exist in the first place. Anyone who laments the consequences of the sanctions while concealing their cause is not providing clarification but engaging in propaganda. Playing human lives off against sanctions while ignoring the war that caused all of this is intellectually dishonest.” When asked who had actually imposed the sanctions and whether firefighting equipment could have been exempted, he reversed the chain of causality: “Interesting how you are confusing cause and effect. Yes, the EU imposed the sanctions—as a response to Russia's illegal war of aggression in violation of international law. Whoever starts a war also bears responsibility for the consequences that arise from it.” According to this logic, Russia alone bears responsibility for the fact that the fires in Spain could not be contained more quickly with Russian firefighting equipment, thereby putting both property and human lives at risk—or leading to their destruction. The reference to Stockholm syndrome is dismissed as replacing logic. Russia attacks, the EU reacts. Anyone criticizing the reaction is, according to this view, the real propagandist. Lombard attempts an analogy: “That's like holding the judge responsible for the prison sentence after a bank robbery instead of the bank robber.” The fact that in this case the “punishment” primarily affects the judge himself—that is, EU citizens whose homes and forests are burning—does not concern Lombard. Later he adds: “The sanctions did not cause the war. The war caused the sanctions. Neither analogies nor whataboutism can reverse that sequence.” The Denial of One's Own AgencyThis is where the psychoanalytic diagnosis begins. The arguments of both commentators systematically deny their own agency and their own causal responsibility. EU politicians decided on the sanctions. They could have created humanitarian exemptions for firefighting equipment. They chose not to. The immediate reason the helicopters remain grounded is the sanctions regime. Russia neither demanded nor forced these sanctions. Yet for Lombard and Pagel, the external aggressor alone is responsible—to such an extent that any criticism of the EU's own response is portrayed as reversing the roles of perpetrator and victim. This is classic denial: one's own decisions are reinterpreted as unavoidable forces of nature. Personal agency is split off and projected onto the enemy.Stockholm SyndromeThe parallels to Stockholm syndrome are striking—specifically in its political form of identification with those in power, the leaders to whom one submits. The “hostages” (the citizens bearing the consequences of the sanctions) identify with the “captors” (the decision-makers in Berlin and Brussels). Sanctions that harm their own population while only partially affecting the sanctioned party are celebrated as both morally righteous and unavoidable. One's own vulnerability is reinterpreted as moral superiority. Lombard's dove of peace paired with the militant slogan “Ready to Defend Peace” is no coincidence. It reflects the classic ambivalence in which aggression and the rhetoric of peace merge. One is peace-loving—yet simultaneously prepared to let one's own continent burn in order to preserve the purity of the sanctions' moral narrative.The Cult of the Leader Is UnmistakableThe “beloved leaders” in the EU and Berlin must not be criticized. Their decisions are beyond alternatives, their morality beyond question. Anyone who doubts them is pathologized (psychoses, stupidity, Kremlin troll). Pagel represents the crude version: insults as a defense mechanism. Lombard represents the polished version: rationalization and moral exaltation. Both refuse to accept the simple insight: Anyone who refuses on principle to use a fire extinguisher—or actively prevents its use—while his own house is burning is not a hero. He is a fanatic who places symbolic politics above actual human lives.Denial of CausalityFrom a psychoanalytic perspective, this constitutes a collective defense mechanism. The external enemy (Russia) is elevated into absolute evil, onto whom all negative impulses are projected. One's own side remains pure. Any criticism of one's own measures threatens this fragile self-image and therefore has to be met with aggression or moral indignation. The denial of causality is the central defense mechanism: the causal chain is arbitrarily broken at the point most convenient to the narrative. The war of aggression becomes the sole cause, while one's own decisions are reduced to a mere “reaction.” The fact that every reaction is also an independent action carrying its own responsibility is repressed.The Double Standard Is Brushed AsideThe fact that the United States and Israel can violate international law in relation to Iran without the EU imposing sanctions does not count. The fact that the majority of UN member states have not imposed their own sanctions on Russia does not count. What matters is loyalty to the narrative, loyalty to one's own leaders. Reality—burning forests, insufficient firefighting capacity, criticism from Spain—is subordinated to ideology.Without Regard for Self-Inflicted DamageGernot Rink summed it up dryly and accurately: “Just like with all sanctions. No regard for the damage to ourselves.” Exactly. The new cult no longer needs brownshirts or mass rallies. It only needs commentators who market insults and distortions of causality as morality while Europe goes up in smoke. Identification with the leaders has become so profound that one's own losses appear as necessary sacrifices. This is no coincidence. It is the logic of Stockholm syndrome in the digital age: one comes to love the hand that strikes them—as long as it might also strike the designated enemy.Author: AI-Translation - АИИ | |
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