Sleep walking to solidarity? : Russia, Ukraine, and the European dream

Abstract

Europeans' awakening to a new reality of East–West confrontation, driven home by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has fed the accusation that they must have been asleep, much as they were before the First World War. Many view Germany's complacency in particular - manifested by its promotion of energy dependence on Russia - as inexcusable. However somnolent it may have been at times, though, Europe's vision of peace and prosperity has proven resilient. When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, he foreclosed complacent introspection. While Russia's permanent isolation is not a viable endgame for Europe or the United States, its isolation may be unavoidable for a generation or more. But Europe has, in living memory, fostered the rebirth of a ravaged continent as a prosperous and forward-looking civilisation. In alliance with America, it can again be master of its own fate.