Speaking the Truth Above All Else

Herodotus once aptly described the old Persians thus:

Persians educate their boys to ride well, shoot straight, and speak the truth.

Herodotus

Later on, the same mantra started being vehiculated about the Getae, a Thracian tribe who lived in the region corresponding roughly to Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova. You see the Getae had a reputation built on two skill sets: archery prowess and directness. They were, to put it bluntly, unapologetically straightforward. Just like their arrows. To the point.

I share this mindset totally and unapologetically. I believe, with all my heart and soul, that that which is true in geometry, namely the shortest connection between two points in space is a straight line, is also true in communication, and in general in human relations.

Every time, we detract or divert from a direct line of reasoning, or speech, we shoot ourselves in the foot. Now, I am sure nobody in their right mind, ever shoots themselves in the foot.

For one, you hurt your chances of walking away from trouble, which is a bit counterproductive.

And secondly, who shoots their own foot? Only imbeciles.

So, this is why it’s always better to tell everyone exactly what is on your mind. No sugar coating. Nada. Nothing. What you think is what they get. Now, you’d better be sure to mean it when you say it. Cause if you don’t, there is no point uttering it too, eh.

One example where sincerity is lacking and also impacting humans in a major way is International Relations (IR).

Before the UKR war, Sweden and Finland, Switzerland and Austria, used to be Neutral countries: Armed Neutrals.

Basically, they were non-aligned countries, whose foreign affairs were based on the principle of non-intervention in foreign wars and armed neutrality.

Back then, Neutrality meant a lot. It was seriously protected under International Law, and also respected by all the countries.

This was the case because of a salient fact of life: those who do not partake in military alliances are not to be hurt because they can be used as platforms for trade, resources, financial transactions, espionage, humanitarian grounds, diplomacy, by all other states.

It was a symbiotic relation, one which assured great benefits to the neutrals themselves, and the world at large.

Back then, Neutrality was the perfect solution for a country like UKR that could not just decide to become part of the West, by parting ways with the East. For various geopolitical reasons, and quite unfortunately so, this was and continues to be the case.

A neutral UKR would have allowed it to pursue a European destiny while also maintaining its independence in a format that had been consecrated by a working geopolitical solution. This was called Finlandization because Finland had also experienced the same upheaval during the 1940s, when after a series of wars opposing it to the Soviets and Germans, it decided to try this radically new approach.

Finlandization is what happens to a small country that borders a big empire and which can be used as a trampoline to invade said empire, which has already snatched some of its territory for security reasons. In short, Finland had two choices in 1945: become a part of the USSR or being Finlandized.

Finlandization is a political declaration of armed neutrality and political benevolence to a regime that is morally abhorrent to its citizens, who recognize however that it is politically expedient to reign in their passions, while choosing their own socio-economic direction.

So this is why the Russians had proposed this business model to UKR before 2022. Alas, it was not meant to come to pass, for various reasons.

In the end, once the War started, things went a different way.

As peace gave way to war, and Guns become the Last Argument of the Powerful, most if not all Neutrals, decided to shed their choice, as if it was defect or something.

Switzerland, Finland, and Sweden decided to play for NATO. Just like that.

And yes, I count Confoederatio Helvetica among those who joined the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization, even though they never did so formally. The moment you start imposing military, economic, and financial sanctions against any country, that’s when you made your choice.

That Finland and Sweden went on and formally joined NATO, matters less to me. To my mind, the Swiss are trying the old bait and switch, namely joining a military alliance in spirit, but not on paper, in order to hedge their bets. If Russia wins, and they appear to emerge victorious, as anyone could have predicted, Bern could well reverse all their decisions and say “Hey, we never joined NATO. We have remained Neutral.”

The same can be said about the Austrians, who like the Swiss, have joined NATO’s air cover security “umbrella”, without renouncing their neutral status. Same duplicity, same perfidious character at play there.

Whereas the two Nordics, bordering/close to Russia, could not pull a Switzerland or an Austria.

The consequences of their actions, however, are far-reaching.

Neutrality is now dead and buried. Nobody cares about it. Not the big powers. Not the small chaff. Nobody. For how can one trust a country to be neutral when there’s ample proof of how easy it is to shed your pretenses, and abandon its principles, for no other reason, than political expediency.

Because, make no mistake, Russia had not threatened Switzerland or Austria, nor did it menace Finland or Sweden. Yet they all acted or reacted in a very antagonistic way.

And because they all did so almost in unison, discarding their long-standing neutral status, hard-earned and well-respected, UKR is not left with no other option than abject defeat.

Any calls to neutralize UKR right now in 2025, fall on deaf ears. Nobody believes in neutrality any longer: not the Russians, not the Americans, not the Europeans, not the Chinese, nobody.

Numquam putavi me talem diem visurum esse – I never thought I would see such a day.

Cicero Letters to Atticus II

Yet the day when Neutrality expired came to pass and it happened in my life time. To say I am disappointed does not even express my feelings.

This is the consequence of dishonesty and lack of frank direct speech in international matters.

This is precisely why we should all Speak the Truth all the Time Above All Else. Because if and when we don’t, we fail to communicate. And nothing good comes out of it.

Try to shoot straight for a change.