Strategic autonomy didn’t seem like a pressing issue to me until Russia invaded the Ukraine, to be honest. I’m sure a large part of the population has been similarly complacent.
Reliance on soviet / russian gas and oil wasn’t a bug, it was a feature designed with the thought that it will stabilise relations. Of course, nobody has envisioned the stupidity of current russian leadership, soooo…
nobody has envisioned the stupidity of current russian leadership
In 1997, George F. Kennan (the architect of Cold War containment) deplored enlargement as “the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era,” warning it would inflame Russian nationalism, empower hardliners, and inevitably precipitate conflict along Russia’s borders
Despite having had a literal lifetime to change that.
Strategic autonomy didn’t seem like a pressing issue to me until Russia invaded the Ukraine, to be honest. I’m sure a large part of the population has been similarly complacent.
Reliance on soviet / russian gas and oil wasn’t a bug, it was a feature designed with the thought that it will stabilise relations. Of course, nobody has envisioned the stupidity of current russian leadership, soooo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_opposition_to_NATO_enlargement