Zua politicians who have made outstanding contributions to the unity of the EU and NATO must now also include Vladimir Putin. Ironically, the man whose main foreign policy goals include decoupling America from Europe and also weakening the Europeans through division has welded the West together with his attack on Ukraine in a way that the Kremlin has not been able to do since Soviet times.
Even when looking at Germany, Putin actually has to ask himself: What have I done? The Putin shock turned moralists, pacifists and Putinists into realists overnight who can no longer believe that they have been taken in by the Russian autocrat and his propaganda for decades. Germany was one of the most important and weakest links in the West’s chain of defense against Moscow’s increasing aggressiveness. That wasn’t just down to Schröder, Merkel and Steinmeier. Driven by a longing for peace and greed for profit, many others also ignored the signs on the Kremlin wall. This happened so consistently that Putin could assume it would go on forever.