Assessing Germany and France’s role in the ‘historical failure’ of appeasing Vladimir Putin for two decades. Plus, two incidents that speak to how depraved American society is becoming

AP/Kremlin

Did Germany and France turn a ‘blind eye’ to the threat posed by Vladimir Putin? - In my estimation, all of us have been underestimating this tyrant for the past twenty-two years. Either out of naivety or cowardice, nobody in a position to do so has ever stood up to this bully, and that very much includes the United States and the administrations that preceded the current one. Nonetheless, Germany and France are being singled out by some as bearing a greater share of responsibility. Excerpt: ‘In hindsight, “it is hard to know whether a membership plan for Ukraine would have been enough to dissuade Putin”, said Laure Delcour, an expert in EU-Russia relations at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris. “NATO membership is a very long process and it is quite possible that Ukraine would still not be a member as we speak,” she told FRANCE 24. “One can also imagine that Putin would have moved faster to thwart Ukraine’s admission.” “Move fast” is precisely what Putin did just four months after the Bucharest summit, sending his tanks into Georgia in support of pro-Russian separatists in the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He repeated the trick six years later in Ukraine’s Donbas region, going one step further with the annexation of Crimea. Each of Putin’s incursions met an ambivalent response from European leaders, alternating between heated rhetoric and sanctions, at first, and attempts at détente, soon after. With Ukraine now in the throes of a catastrophic war, those leaders stand accused of emboldening the Russian president and being blind to his imperialist ambitions. “Europe didn’t go wrong, Germany and France did,” said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, vice-president of the German Marshall Fund and head of its Berlin office, in an interview with FRANCE 24. “France and Germany tend to speak for the rest of Europe. But these miss-assessments were made in Paris and Berlin, not elsewhere. Eastern Europe didn’t go wrong, northern Europe didn’t go wrong,” he added. Kleine-Brockhoff said the war in Ukraine called for an urgent reappraisal of German and French policy vis-à-vis Russia. He added: “Not only is the post-Cold War order crumbling in front of our eyes, so are the strategies deployed by Germany and France.”’ (France 24 4/05)

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announces Germany will stop Russian oil imports by the end of the year (Sky News 4/20)

(VIDEO) Secret thoughts of Russian occupiers, via intercepted phone calls - Blanket statements about a group of people may be unfair and wrong, but something is seriously amiss with the psyche of the typical ethnic Russian.

Youth Football Online

Unruly, irrational, and violent parents leading to a nationwide shortage of referees for youth sports - So, in the past two years the American people have declared war on their health care professionals, teachers, youth sports officials, and who else are we missing here? (New York Times 4/21)

Texas: Beachgoers harass and try to ride stranded dolphin - A sick, violent, regressive, and incredibly stupid country. Unthinking, mindless cruelty is second-nature to the peasant. No creature of land, air, or sea is safe in a kakistocracy. (CBS News 4/15)

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