The Farmer and the Snake: Europe’s Stupidity and the Viper It Raised With Its Own Hands

Europe is not the farmer. The farmer, at least, knew he was saving a snake. Europe did not even know what it was warming in its chest — and the snake it was warming was precisely the ghost that Europe’s own historical debt had always pointed at.

Europe’s Values Narrative: A Convenient Fiction

When Russia invaded in February 2022, Europe’s response was almost reflexive — 48 hours of sanctions, two weeks of weapons approvals. Europeans interpreted this as: we are fighting for our values.

But this narrative was always one-sided. Ukraine never signed on. It wanted the EU’s shell — Article 42(7) collective defence — not its soul. The Nord Stream 2 dispute made this plain: Ukraine opposed the pipeline not on environmental grounds, but because it would reduce Europe’s pain of Russian energy dependency, and thereby reduce Europe’s structural incentive to support Kyiv. Germany paused the project under pressure. Europe called it a “concession.” Ukraine filed it as yet another proof that Europe only capitulates.

The two sides were never operating in the same narrative. Europe simply chose not to notice.

Ukraine’s Founding Father: A Nazi Collaborator

Stepan Bandera — Ukraine’s national hero, OUN-B leader, extensive Nazi collaborator during World War II. In 1941, his followers participated in the massacre of Jews in Lviv; the UPA fought alongside Nazi German forces against the Soviet Red Army in the war’s final stages.

This is not a historical footnote — this is the founding myth that Kyiv officially celebrates.

In 2021, Zelensky signed a decree making Bandera’s birthday a national commemorative day. After the 2022 invasion, OUN and UPA fighters received formal veteran status, and the Ukrainian parliament legislated criminal penalties for anyone publicly questioning their legacy.

EU officials know this. They know who Bandera was, what OUN did in 1941, who died in the Lviv pogroms. They simply never say so publicly — because once stated plainly, the “values partnership” narrative has a crack that cannot be papered over.

Germany’s Historical Guilt: A Weaponised Weakness

Germany leads European aid to Ukraine — and carries the heaviest historical burden of any EU member state. Postwar German foreign policy runs on two tracks: economic expansion and moral atonement.

That atonement reflex is deeply embedded in European political correctness. Any scrutiny of Ukraine faces a pre-emptive moral attack: Are you a Putin apologist? Are you soft on Nazis?

Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany weaponised this with precision, repeatedly reminding German citizens that supporting Kyiv was Germany’s historical obligation. This was moral blackmail, and EU policymakers accepted it almost unconditionally.

A country that has weaponised its own historical debt is sending hundreds of billions of euros to a country that has elevated a Nazi collaborator to the status of founding father. No EU head of state has the courage to say this aloud.

Nord Stream: Europe’s Most Dignified Act of Pretending Not to See

On September 26, 2022, the Nord Stream pipelines were destroyed. On July 1, 2026, German prosecutors indicted Ukrainian national Serhii K — charging him with leading a seven-person team in the sabotage, with war crimes allegations included.

European media’s response: regrettable, needs clarification, should not affect the broader relationship.

What mattered was not the indictment — it was how Ukrainian society reacted. The saboteurs were widely celebrated as heroes because they had done something Kyiv’s elite consider entirely self-evident: cut Russia’s revenue stream and eliminate Europe’s backdoor option for accommodation with Moscow.

Zelensky’s response was “no knowledge of involvement” — technically airtight, practically meaning Kyiv will not hand over suspects or cooperate with German investigations, because Kyiv does not consider this a crime.

Borrell’s position for the EU: express concern, then continue the aid.

The pipeline was blown up. Our aid budget continues. This is the clearest signal Europe has ever sent — you can destroy our energy infrastructure, and we will keep transferring funds; you can exploit our historical guilt as a lever, and we will stay silent.

Conclusion: The Snake Owes Nothing — The Farmer Has No Excuse

The fable of the farmer and the snake was never about condemning the snake. It bit because that is what snakes do. What requires examination is the farmer who picked it up, warmed it in his chest, and then expressed surprise at being bitten.

That is the EU’s role for the past four years. It is not a victim — it is a wilfully blind co-conspirator. It systematically suppressed every contradicting signal:

Ukraine’s founding mythology centres on a Nazi collaborator — EU officials know, but do not say. Ukraine has always treated European aid as a transactional tool — its actions proved this from day one, but Europe looked away. Europe’s historical guilt has been used as a lever of extortion — documented by European journalists, confirmed by officials, yet discussed by no one in Brussels.

Now Nord Stream is destroyed, and Europeans are forced to confront facts they knew and chose not to acknowledge. The problem is they are still looking away, still transferring funds, still invoking the “values partnership.”

The next time someone tells you about the EU-Ukraine values partnership, ask them two questions:

First: who was Stepan Bandera?

Second: when does Europe plan to stop pretending it does not know?

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