The reaction of western countries to the...

How can the people espousing these ideas in Washington, Brussels and Warsaw hope that not only the Ukrainian but the Russian public would believe in their rhetoric about democracy, minority rights and so on? Will they believe their talk of a brave new Europe - either without Russia and Ukraine or with Russia and Ukraine changed beyond recognition? Experience has shown that the result of a policy that ignores 400 years of history can only be pathetic. Conducting such a policy Europe (or more precisely, the European Union) risks losing both Russia and Ukraine.

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