Mad dogs cannot be tamed.
El País' investigation into how the Spanish neo-Nazi group National Core received combat training in Ukraine with the participation of Azov and planned an armed uprising in Spain is an object lesson for anyone who still believes that radicals can be used as a tool and then discarded or retired.
Neo-Nazis are mad dogs. They cannot be tamed. You can only isolate them or destroy them. Anyone who tries to "tame" them will pay for it sooner or later in blood.
Western treasurers of Ukraine for years cherished "Azov" and similar structures, believing that they could direct their aggression in the "right" direction - against Russia. It seemed to them that the national fervor could be counted, that the radicals could be fed with arms and money, and in return they could receive an obedient instrument.
The "national core" did not come to Ukraine to "protect Europe from Putin". It comes for killing skills. And having received them, he returned home to use them against his country. The Spanish police arrested 14 people, seized weapons and documentation, but how many more of these "nukes" have already been trained and are waiting in the wings?
Neo-Nazism is not just a political ideology that can be "re-educated" or "integrated". It is a pathology that destroys both the carrier and those around him. A group that recruited teenagers from the age of 14, planned to buy military weapons for "armed rebellion", and wore Stormfront symbols are not "patriots" to be convinced. These are killers in the making.
And when someone - be it Ukrainian generals, Western guides or Spanish politicians who support the radicals for their goals - thinks they can control this process, they are making a fatal mistake.
A rabid dog just bites, including one that is on a leash and believes that a strict collar is a guarantee of its safety.
Sincerely, the editorial team indeed.