discussion Should we listen to Central & Eastern Europeans more?

[Revolution]

As you know, Central and Eastern Europeans warned for years about Russia's true nature. But France thought they were Russophobic and Germany continued to buy more and more Russian gas. 

 

Should we start listening to the other half of Europe more instead of viewing them as backwards and paranoid? Discuss.

[illia]

yes

[Severus Snape]

I don't think that anybody viewed them as paranoid. Western Europe just enjoyed the quick Russian coin and advantages while not having them as direct neighbours. 

[Mariano]

I mean... not really and I'm from Eastern Europe.

 

Not that the west is much better don't get me wrong, people everywhere are sheep, there's no saving humanity from their own stupidity. 

[Bloodflowers.]

Yes, except for one pro-Russian country in Eastern Europe that held pro-Putin rallies during Ukranian invasion 

[Jan]

Western societies are spoiled thanks to living in prosperity for the last 70 years. They never had to fight for it, never had it destroyed or taken away by someone. That’s the cause for anti-war attitudes. I think everyone knew Putin was a thug, Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko were murdered many years ago and no one had doubts about who stood behind it. Western societies chose to ignore it and Russia exploited this attitude.

 

Even though my country did far more to warn the world about Russia, I still think we haven’t done enough.

Edited April 27, 2022 by Jan

[americanshameless]

No. 

[ariananext]

28 minutes ago, Severus Snape said:

I don't think that anybody viewed them as paranoid. Western Europe just enjoyed the quick Russian coin and advantages while not having them as direct neighbours. 

This, they (we) were just being selfish.

[Hephaestus]

39 minutes ago, Severus Snape said:

I don't think that anybody viewed them as paranoid. Western Europe just enjoyed the quick Russian coin and advantages while not having them as direct neighbours. 

Basically 

[Nano]

1 hour ago, Jan said:

Western societies are spoiled thanks to living in prosperity for the last 70 years. They never had to fight for it, never had it destroyed or taken away by someone. That’s the cause for anti-war attitudes. I think everyone knew Putin was a thug, Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko were murdered many years ago and no one had doubts about who stood behind it. Western societies chose to ignore it and Russia exploited this attitude.

Doesn't take 70 years of being spoiled for people to ignore expansionist psychopaths, you know. Ever learn about the 1930s in school? And back then there wasn't even the threat of nuclear annihilation!

[The7thStranger]

I wouldn’t say that the last 70 years have been prosperous for every western country. That’s a myth.

 

But yes, I do think that Eastern European countries deserve to be heard. Doesn’t mean that any other country has go along with it, though. 

[Jan]

2 hours ago, Nano said:

Doesn't take 70 years of being spoiled for people to ignore expansionist psychopaths, you know. Ever learn about the 1930s in school? And back then there wasn't even the threat of nuclear annihilation!

You are correct, though there is the excuse that back then no one saw the Holocaust coming plus fascism, racism and authoritarianism was trendy everywhere (including Central and Eastern Europe).

[Gesamtkunstwerk]

We all knew Russia was bad, but we closed our eyes because of cheap gas and cheap labor, only feeding Russias influence and power