This article aims to demonstrate that the world we live in is ruled by madmen who, dominated by blindness, lead the world towards a new world war. The mad rulers of Russia, Wladimir Putin, and of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, radicalized their positions that led to the outbreak of war and the devastation to which Ukraine was subjected. The mad rulers of the United States and the countries of the European Union have radicalized by unleashing an economic war against Russia that may contribute to Putin radicalizing in an attempt to maintain himself in power and impose himself in the face of the power of the great Western powers. Madness and blindness also reached the rulers of most countries in the world who, as a herd, took almost unanimous decisions to condemn Russia for the invasion of Ukraine at the UN General Assembly instead of acting in the sense of seeking a negotiated solution for the conflict. The UN, which was supposed to mediate the conflict, was also dominated by madness and blindness as it stopped being an instrument for building world peace and became an instrument for promoting war. The world is not just made up of mad and blind rulers. Madness and blindness hit the leaders of companies that stopped establishing business relations with Russia, such as Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Spotfy, YouTube, Boeing, Airbus, Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Shell , British Petroleum, Mastercard, Visa, Amex and McDonald's, among others, fueling the process of radicalization against Russia. Crazy and blind are also the manufacturers of armaments, that is, the war industry in the world, especially in the United States, who foment wars to make money. The outbreak of a new world war could occur if Russia's economic and financial suffocation threatens to destabilize Putin's power at home. Putin is already considering the economic and financial sanctions imposed on her by the United States and the European Union as a declaration of war. It should be noted that Russia and the United States jointly have more than 8,000 nuclear warheads. The stakes are extremely high for humanity. The future existence of human beings is in the hands of these madmen.

1. 1
MADMEN AND BLIND LEAD THE WORLD TOWARDS THE NEW WORLD WAR
Fernando Alcoforado*
This article aims to demonstrate that the world is ruled by madmen who, dominated by blindness,
lead the world towards a new world war. William Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights in
history, born in the United Kingdom in 1564 and died in 1616, is the author of the phrase "Tis the
time’s plague when madmen lead the blind" in a line from his play King Lear and, also, from the
phrase “What goes through the minds of these people who play with death?” in his play Hamlet.
These two Shakespearean phrases reflect the time in which we live, in which the mad rulers of
Russia and the United States guide the blind rulers of most countries in the world, allied to them
who feed the possibility of facing the outbreak of a world war by radicalizing their actions in the
war between Russia and Ukraine. I repeat Shakespeare's phrase asking what goes through the
minds of these people who play with death or the end of the human species with the outbreak of
nuclear war?
The mad rulers of the United States and the countries of the European Union radicalized by
unleashing an economic war against Russia that could contribute to the political weakening of
Wladimir Putin in power, either by defections of the internal ruling classes that, harmed by
economic sanctions and financial forces of the great western powers, disagree with his war
strategy in Ukraine and overthrow him, or also by the action of opposition political forces, which
can lead to a change in the political command of the country with the removal of Putin from
power. However, this situation can make Putin, on the other hand, radicalize in the confrontation
with the United States, the European Union and NATO in an attempt to maintain himself in power
and impose himself in the face of the power of the great Western powers. Faced with this fact,
Putin can make use of his nuclear arsenal that can trigger a new world war. The consequences for
humanity would be harmful in the latter case because there would be the end of the human species.
The mad rulers of Russia, Wladimir Putin, and of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, radicalized their
positions that led to the outbreak of war and the devastation to which Ukraine was subjected.
Zelensky's madness resided in the fact that he did not comply with the Minsky Agreement on the
emancipation of Donetsk and Luhansk and that he incorporated into the Ukrainian Constitution
the intention to incorporate the country into the European Union and NATO, which is considered
a military threat to Russia, given the the siege that was built after the end of the Soviet Union with
the accession to this western military alliance and to the European Union by the countries that
made up the socialist system of Eastern Europe. Add to all this Zelensky's manifest desire for
NATO to carry out a no-fly in Ukrainian airspace that would contribute to triggering a new world
war. Putin's madness is manifested in the fact that he invaded Ukraine in disregard of the United
Nations Charter and admitted the possibility of using nuclear weapons in this conflict in retaliation
for the action of Western powers in support of Ukraine.
What goes through the minds of these people who play with death and the end of humanity? The
crazy leaders of the United States, the European Union and NATO are forgetting that by
unleashing an economic war like the one they are carrying out against Russia, they can turn it into
a real world-wide war because it can make Wladimir Putin radicalize his actions in the
confrontation against his enemies becauses, it is clear that for him and for Russia it is a game of
life and death. The future of Putin and Russia depends on the outcome in their favor of the war
between Russia and Ukraine and on the fulfillment of their demands by Ukraine for the
recognition of Crimea as Russian territory and the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk
regions, the abandonment of its claim to integrate the European Union and NATO and the
demilitarization of the country. Russia's victory in the war is inevitable, but the biggest problem
will come in the post-war period because Russia will have to bear the political and military costs
of maintaining its domination of Ukraine, in addition to having to face the guerrilla war of the
defeated in war that will have the support of Western powers and NATO.
Putin also knows that the integration of Russia into the globalized capitalist economy was
definitely compromised with his permanence at the head of Russia because the world powers of

2. 2
capitalism has turned this country into an international pariah. To survive economically, Russia
will have to deepen its trade relations with China. It is necessary to know if the commercial
relations with China will compensate the losses that it will have with the end of the commercial
exchange with the western powers. If economic relations with China compensate for the loss it
will have with the end of trade with Western powers, Russia will be able to recover from the
current crisis. If this does not happen, Russia could suffer economic regression and will have to
face serious internal political, economic and social problems that could shake the country's power
structure. This scenario could contribute to Putin's fall from power in the future.
The world is not just made up of mad and blind rulers. Madness and blindness hit the leaders of
companies that stopped establishing business relations with Russia, such as Apple, Samsung,
Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Spotfy, YouTube, Boeing, Airbus, Ford, General Motors,
Toyota, Shell , British Petroleum, Mastercard, Visa, Amex and McDonald's, among others,
fueling the process of radicalization against Russia. Madness and blindness also reached the rulers
of most countries in the world who, as a herd, took almost unanimous decisions to condemn
Russia for the invasion of Ukraine at the UN General Assembly instead of acting in the sense of
seeking a negotiated solution for the conflict. The UN, which was supposed to mediate the
conflict, was also dominated by madness and blindness as it stopped being an instrument for
building world peace and became an instrument for promoting war. Repeating Shakespeare "what
goes through the minds of these people who play with death?" I ask: what goes through the minds
of these people who play with the end of the human species?
Crazy and blind are also the manufacturers of armaments, that is, the war industry in the world,
especially in the United States, who foment wars to make money. It is no coincidence that the
United States is one of the countries that benefit most economically from armed confrontations,
as the largest arms exporters in the world are Americans. Of the 10 largest arms manufacturers in
the world, six are North American, and five of them are leaders in the global arms industry. Could
they be exhibited in broad daylight, we would see that the main sponsors of this fratricidal war
are the arms industry, on both sides of the trenches. The arms industry sponsors the war in Ukraine
as it has promoted other wars in the past to make money. The record production of weapons,
increasingly lethal and surgical, needs to be put to work in practice. In the hands of madmen,
these deadly technologies end up promoting the show of horrors that TV stations broadcast live
and in color.
The crazy rulers of the Western powers and other countries of the world and the leaders of the
companies that boycott Russia blindly adopt economic and financial sanctions against Russia,
underestimating that it can use its nuclear weapons, carry out cyber attacks and destabilize the
world economy with the cessation of oil and natural gas supplies. Regardless of the use of nuclear
weapons, things can get much worse if Putin wants to. Russia could unleash cyberattacks that
could target banks, companies, individuals and even key national infrastructure, and as one of the
world's major producers of energy inputs, it could cease the supply of oil and natural gas that
could affect the growth of the world economy. in 2022 thanks to the impact of inflation, which
could rise with the possibility of oil and natural gas prices rising dramatically.
The outbreak of a new world war could occur if Russia's economic and financial suffocation
threatens to destabilize Putin's power at home. Putin is already considering the economic and
financial sanctions imposed on her by the United States and the European Union as a declaration
of war. In turn, the red line for NATO to intervene in the conflict is if Russia threatens any of its
member states when the western military alliance will be obligated to defend any member state
that is attacked under NATO's Article 5. This situation could occur at any time given the territorial
proximity between Russia and NATO countries. It should be noted that Russia and the United
States jointly have more than 8,000 nuclear warheads. The stakes are extremely high for
humanity. The future existence of human beings is in the hands of these madmen.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 82, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System,
member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional
Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of

3. 3
strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is author of the
books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem
Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os
condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de
Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora
Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos
na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica,
Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate
ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores
Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no
Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba,
2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV,
Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua
convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018), Como inventar o futuro para mudar o
mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019) and A humanidade ameaçada e as estratégias para sua sobrevivência
(Editora Dialética, São Paulo, 2021) .