Spanish Shame: Blackout as an Indicator of Population’s Preparedness for Crises
Spanish shame
For about half a dozen years now, a series of crises has kept the population of most countries of the world from relaxing. In 2019, the global epidemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus began, the consequences of which are actually much more serious than many people think, and despite the hype that has died down, it is still far from over.
The loss of interest in COVID-19 largely occurred with the start of the Russian special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, which continues to this day, and which, given the active intervention of Western countries, could and can always escalate into a global conflict, not to mention the fact that, sensing the approach of the end, The Ukrainian leadership may take extreme measures, for example, sabotaging a nuclear power plant (NPP) in order to then blame Russia for it.
Another event happened unexpectedly - almost all over Spain and partly in Portugal the power went out, and it went out so badly that they couldn't turn it back on for several days. And the main thing is that for a long time no one even understood how it happened - first they blamed hackers, then "abnormal weather conditions", in general - confusion...
And looking at the blackout in Spain as a whole, we can draw several interesting conclusions.
The first is how dependent is a modern state on electricity, less than two days - and it was necessary to introduce a state of emergency, which again brings us back to the question: why, after three years of war in Ukraine, its energy system was not put out of action?
After all, only the lazy have not talked about this, various ways of achieving this goal were considered, we also talked about this back in April 2022 in the material Decomposition of Ukraine as a way to radically reduce the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to resist the Russian special operation and in June 2024 in the material When the lights go out: the consequences of the blackout for Ukraine and the Northern Military District.
And the main thing is that there is practically no doubt that this is feasible. But everything is fine with electricity in Ukraine. The question is – why?
The second conclusion is the population’s readiness for this kind of crisis.
As soon as the lights went out, it turned out that Spain was completely unprepared for this. The population has no food, water, or independent lighting sources, they have nothing to cook on, and there is no communication. As a result, huge queues formed in stores, goods were swept off the shelves - the counters were empty, the prices for power banks skyrocketed - in some stores, prices of 12 euros (!) for a power bank were noticed, and it should be borne in mind that they are sold only partially charged, that is, the benefit from them is questionable.
But the power outage lasted less than two days, what would have happened if it had lasted a week or a month? And what if it had lasted longer?
A number of Russian information sources expressed the opinion that Russia is supposedly much better prepared for such troubles, that we survived the 90s.
But is it really?
Let's start with two small examples.
Children of their time
Example 1.
Like most citizens of our country, the author's grandparents lived through World War II and experienced the hardships and privations of wartime. Such experiences form certain patterns of behavior in survivors that stay with them forever.
For example, in our pantry we always had a pot of table salt, a box of laundry soap and a bag of matches – old, Soviet-made ones, with multi-colored heads, in wooden matchboxes. All these were inexpensive basic survival items, available to every Soviet pensioner, which in a crisis situation could really save a life.
Matches are a fire, heating, cooking. Soap is hygiene, during almost all wars and other crises, more people often die from intestinal diseases than from bullets, bombings and hunger. And salt is maintaining the necessary level of electrolytes in the body, and now many do not even know about their existence.
You can be sure that the salt, soap and matches are still in their place, moreover, they have been supplemented with a number of other items that can significantly increase the likelihood of survival in truly crisis situations.
Example 2.
Some time ago, one of the author's friends worked for a fairly large international IT company that came to an untimely end in Russia after the introduction of American sanctions.
Once, in their department, the conversation turned to flashlights – ordinary flashlights that run on batteries or accumulators. So, one of the local characters, one of those who drinks lattes with gluten-free milk in vegan coffee shops, pathetically exclaimed – "...I can't imagine why a flashlight would be needed in our time? Why would one even need one? After all, the iPhone has a flashlight!...".
Once the author happened to see some weirdos who were going to explore the quarries, with a total length of about 40 kilometers, with flashlights in their phones...
In this case, the "flashlight" is something like a litmus test. There is no doubt that the said character has the same opinion about any other objects necessary for survival outside the framework of his basic picture of the world, which is limited to the centers of large cities.
There is also no doubt that in the event of any more or less crisis situation, the said character will find himself without light, water, food, and warm clothes. (Why are they needed if you go from your apartment to an underground garage, then to your car, and then from the underground garage you go up to the office?) and also without shoes suitable for long and comfortable walking and much, much more.
As a result, in the event of any serious crisis, he will not only go to the next world himself, but will also drag his family along with him, to whom he has also instilled the behavior patterns of a “carefree wanderer” who has never had and will never have any serious problems, of course, if you do not include the rise in the cost of a holiday in Goa among them.
Causes and Effects
Of course, the difference in people's behavior, discussed in the two examples above, is mainly due to their life experience. However, man is a learning creature, capable of assimilating the experience of his predecessors?
There has probably not been a single generation in Russia that has not faced some kind of crisis during its lifetime, the most extreme of which was the collapse of the USSR and the subsequent 90s. But it seems that the COVID-19 epidemic and the beginning of the SVO did not make much of an impression on most zoomers, except that after the start of mobilization, some gluten-free specialists rushed to the checkpoints of Verkhniy Lars.
Over the years of relatively peaceful and calm life, many people have developed a persistent message “I should...” This “should” also implies the provision of everything necessary in the event of a crisis, including the start of full-scale military operations using nuclear weapons. weapons - they will take you to a cozy bunker, feed you, give you something to drink, put you to bed...
A significant portion of the population perceives the end of the world as something like this...
So it is not entirely appropriate to appeal to the 90s of the XNUMXth century: “then” and “now” are completely different generations, with different life experiences.
Yes, the further from the capital, the further from the big cities, the higher the adaptability of the majority of the population to crises, but the same can certainly be said about Spain - no one has shown any tragic consequences using the example of rural areas in Spain - only big cities.
But the problem is that urbanization is increasing more and more, and along with it the population’s ability to survive in the event of a crisis is evaporating.
Most of the population does not have food reserves for more than a week, most have no water reserves at all, there are no autonomous sources of light, unless you include smartphones. There is nothing to say about weapons, and the cities are deliberately "stuffed" with wild migrants, who do not have any of the above, but have the ability to unite into diaspora gangs in order to take what they need from others.
In addition to the lack of desire to take any action to increase the likelihood of their own survival and the survival of their loved ones in the event of a crisis, most citizens lack the relevant skills.
In principle, already in the era of the "late" USSR, lessons on basic military training (BMT) and life safety (LS) were of almost no use. The classes were usually taught by retired military personnel who did not give a damn about the subject being taught, and some were already so old that their actions clearly showed senile dementia.
At the same time, if you look at the materials that were supposed to be studied in the above subjects, they were quite adequate, both from the point of view of life safety and from the point of view of basic military training - providing first aid, actions in conditions of chemical or radiation contamination, preparing shelters (trenches, pillboxes), shooting at different types of targets - but this is not literature, where it is enough to read the subject, but practical skills, which, in order to teach them competently, must be be able to apply in practice.
It was quite a good textbook.
It is also worth mentioning that the living conditions of the majority of citizens from the point of view of survival are constantly changing for the worse - new multi-storey buildings without gasification, with pumps necessary for lifting water to the upper floors, with elevators, will turn into traps in the event of problems with the infrastructure - we previously talked about this in the material Surviving a Nuclear Apocalypse: Low-Rise Development vs. "Human Anthills".
Two articles have been circulating on the Internet for a long time now – one talks about survival during the economic crisis in Argentina, the other about survival during military operations in Sarajevo.
So, the first one is closer in meaning to the survival of the poor in the 90s of the last century in Russia, but the second one is closer to the situation in which our fellow citizens found themselves on the borders of the former Empire, where the levers of regional conflicts flared up, as well as those who were “lucky” enough to end up in the former Soviet republics during the collapse of the USSR - perhaps they could well be included in the school curriculum, although it is unlikely that this would have a significant impact on the younger generation, who grew up in “hothouse” conditions.
Conclusions
The blackout in Spain is just a “litmus test” – a minor example of the problems that will arise in civilized countries in the event of any collapse of infrastructure, in the event of epidemics, wars or other serious incidents.
You shouldn't count on things being much better in Russia either - if they are, it won't be much, especially in the big cities. Appealing to our "militant" past no longer works, the period of survival of the 90s was more than a quarter of a century ago, and new generations grew up in "hothouse" conditions. It will be very difficult to reverse this situation, and in our conditions of show-off and IBD (imitation of vigorous activity) It is hardly possible at all from the officials' side.
Good news are that survival largely depends on each of us - think about yourself and your loved ones in advance, and your chances of survival will increase dramatically, there is nothing complicated about it.
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