A general view shows Tehran skyline, Iran, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (source: TASR/AP/Vahid Salemi)
The author is a philosopher and former Member of the European Parliament.
I’m simply a hawk. Not a warmonger, but when a predator attacks a dove, there is no other way than to become a bird of prey yourself. Preferably one larger than the predator that dared strike. Of course, in today’s Middle East, there are no doves.
Once, I was invited to a debate on Al Jazeera. I said the Middle East is exactly where Europe was between the two world wars: everyone sees everyone else as an enemy, a rival; alliances are formed solely to defeat others. And everyone is searching for one. It ended in world war.
The Middle East is no different – except that alliances are still drawn along religious lines, something Europe overcame with the end of the religious wars in the 17th century.
