Eastern Europe, which beginning with Poland is celebrating its 25th
anniversary of freedom from Communism, has suddenly awakened from a
beautiful dream about the end of history
writes
Slawomir Sierakowski.
No less an authority than Adam Michnik, the legendary Polish
anti-Communist dissident, recently announced that 2014 marks the end of
the best period in Poland’s history in three centuries.
… Now, faced with the powerlessness of the West before Vladimir V. Putin’s
Russia, the countries of Eastern Europe are suddenly confronted with
the need to reflect on their foreign policies — and no country more so
than Poland.
The
primary problem for Eastern Europe is not so much Mr. Putin’s
aggression, but rather the disunity in the region’s response.
… Nor
can Eastern Europe depend on its Western allies. European weapons
manufacturers, foremost among them German and French companies, are
arming the Russian military, while Russia pays Europe with the money it
earns from supplying gas, making Europe energy-dependent on Russia.
Meanwhile European firms are signing multibillion-dollar energy
contracts with the Russian energy companies Gazprom and Rosneft.
As
a result, Europe, the largest economy in the world, finds itself
helpless in a confrontation with a country that, in economic terms and
excluding the energy sector, belongs in the global third division.
The
swirl of opinions, analyses and interests can be bewildering,
especially in contrast to an essentially simple calculation by Russia.
Unlike the West, it values geopolitical expansion, not economic
conditions. Otherwise, Russia would invest the money it earns from oil
and gas in economic development, and not in its military, which
according to projected spending will account for well over a quarter of
the national budget by 2015.
This
situation casts a dark shadow on the place where the Iron Curtain used
to be. “Old Europe” is not threatened, and so it can focus on its own
economic interests, while “New Europe” is reminded of the nightmares of
its past. The fact that Ukrainians were willing to die in order to open
the door to the European Union, which is now unwilling to bear the
economic costs of a confrontation with Russia in order to protect them,
is hardly comforting.
