After 5 decades of Cold War, the Soviet Union finally collapsed, and the countries in Western Europe hoped that they could start a neighborly relationship with Russia. Russia has huge reserves of oil and gas, Europe has very little. So they built those various pipelines from Russia to Europe. Now Russia is the main supplier of energy to Western Europe. Where else can they go? I can certainly understand how they got to this point.

IMHO, what they should have done when Russia invaded Ukraine, is to disagree with them verbally, but not engage in a proxy-war against them.
The German Foreign Minister said a few days ago, that Germany will continue to stand up against Russia, in support of Ukraine. “regardless of what the German people want”. An Italian politician said,, how can we stand up to Russia… we are on our knees.

IMHO, all this will slowly fall apart. Several large companies in Europe have already closed doors, because of the energy crisis... and the average citizen is worried about freezing to death this coming winter. I suspect that sooner or later, they all have to sit together and end this war diplomatically... probably before this year is over.
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