Europe will lose all credibility if Russia wins in Ukraine, warns Macron
www.telegraph.co.uk
French president invokes Winston Churchill’s call to maintain the ‘sinews of peace’ in a prime-time interview on his stance on the conflict

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10013170

The war in Ukraine is “existential for our Europe and for France”, Mr Macron said in the interview on France 2 and TF1.

“Do you think that the Poles, the Lithuanians, the Estonians, the Romanians and the Bulgarians could remain at peace for a second [in the event of a Russian victory in Ukraine]?” he asked. “If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility would be reduced to zero.”

    • nivenkos@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      That isn’t realistic, and Russia has nuclear weapons too.

      The best bet is that the regime will be toppled in Russia with time, just like the USSR was.

      It’s better to lead by example with free institutions and free markets - the people of Russia will want freedom too.

      • Maalus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        6 months ago

        The US has nuclear weapons. Europe has nuclear weapons.

        Bullshit about “free institutions and free market”. That was the thought after the Soviet Union collapsed. And what do we have now? The exact opposite of what Russia “was supposed to be through open markets”.

        • nivenkos@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          6 months ago

          Yeah, and they would use them if they had foreign armies pushing into their territory.

          But no efforts were made to really democratise and modernise Russia - they let oligarchs rise up from criminal gangs, etc., it’d have been better to have a more controlled process like Glasnost.

          • RidderSport@feddit.deEnglish
            0·
            6 months ago

            Yeah because Russia was not capitulated. They were a disfunctional, but sovereign country. You cannot dictate anything on them. You can lead by example or make suggestions, but ultimately it’s the will of the people that matters. In that regard the situation is rather similar to Germany post WW1. A people not yet ready for democracy and no one there to force them to. In Germany’s case it took the entire to be bombed to the ground, millions dead and being occupied by 4 not so emphatic countries.