Let’s Be Honest Obama, Merkel, and Macron Enabled Putin —On the Largest Failure of the 21st Century

The postwar period in Europe was relatively safe. Apart from the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s, which claimed more than 100,000 lives (and was catastrophically tragic), Europeans were promised a peaceful future.

The Postwar Europe we knew was largely one where economic deterrence, diplomacy, and the promise of “never again” were dominant themes of European relations.

Holocaust memorials were built. Sites of concentration camps were preserved to remind us of the horrors Nazis inflicted on millions. Statues in most towns and cities immortalized the lives lost. Europe remembered the World Wars and we imagined that large nations would not face each other on its continent again. The European Union promised as much.

Putin changed that hope.

Photo by Polina Petrishyna on Unsplash

Since the 1990s, the United States of America has tried to keep a balanced relationship with Russia. Upon Yeltsin’s inauguration, both foreign and domestic observers hoped for a democratic Russia.

Yeltsin was incompetent, however. He let oligarchs take over Russia’s justice system, police force, finances, and politics.

Putin promised to change that for the Russian people. Both Russia and the world were willing to believe in…