| A excellent summary of our challenge with Russia. I recall back in 2003/4 working in Sweden and Finland and experienced people there at that time reminding me "the Russian bear is only sleeping". How true. The saviour-like actions of the EU to embrace ex-soviet countries (Poland, Hungary, Romania, etc) was an embarrassment to Russia. Especially as these countries are now beginning to flourish within the EU - something Russia could never have enabled. The investment (and yes, its an investment) in these countries has curtailed Russia's size and standing. Moreover, the investment will eventually turn around as these countries economies grow. In reality there was no choice for the EU as without their intervention these countries would have collapsed only to fall back into Russian control, with untold suffering along the way. This is why when a Brexit fan moans about the UK paying more into the EU than we get out I get angry about their narrow, short term and selfish view. |