On: EU leaders discuss Iran, Ukraine at Cyprus summit

Diary of the Uncarved Block

They meet again, these men who carve the world into pieces and call it governance. They approve loans like throwing stones into a pond, counting the ripples as progress. Ukraine thirsts, and they offer gold - but what is gold to a land that needs stillness? The more they give, the more they bind. The more they bind, the less Ukraine remembers how to stand alone.

And Iran - ah, Iran. They will discuss sanctions, pressures, the tightening of ropes. But ropes only teach the neck how to endure. The harder they pull, the deeper the knot. They do not see that silence speaks louder than threats, that the empty hand holds more than the clenched fist.

The Middle East burns, and they fan the flames by pouring oil they call aid. They believe fire can be managed. But fire, like power, obeys no master.

All this fixing, this frantic shaping of the world - yet the bowl’s usefulness is in its emptiness. The more they act, the less they understand.

I watch from the valley, where the river flows without permission.