"The question arose starkly when the USSR collapsed, and Mikhail Gorbachev outlined the vision of a “common European home” with no military alliances from Lisbon to Vladivostok. In a limited form, the concept was revived by French President Emmanuel Macron in his recent abortive interchanges with Putin.
"If there had been anyone in the Kremlin who resembled a statesman, they would have leaped at the opportunity to explore something like the Gorbachev vision. Europe has strong reasons to establish close relations with Russia, ranging from commerce to security. Whether such efforts might have succeeded, avoiding the Ukraine tragedy, we can only guess. The answer could only have been found out by trying. Instead, the hard men in Moscow turned to violence, compounding their criminal aggression with self-defeating foolishness."
This shows a distinct lack of understanding the power dynamics in post-WWII Europe, and legitimate French insecurities in context of the strategic pincer of AUKUS (read: "Anglo-Saxon" or Oceania if you prefer) and (the now nixed) German-Russian axis and the platform to affect it (NS2, also nixed). It also completely ignores Russia's stated demands in December 2021 for written replies form "US and NATO". They want to hear that 'proposal' from US and NATO, not an insecure France that is rightfully quite worried about a re-militarized Germany OR a Germany in bed with Russia. There is a reason Macron is burning the hot-line to Moscow - France knows it is one of the designated 'losers' of this geopolitical reshuffling. And for the same precise reason, Russia does not consider French assurances as meaningful.
"If there had been anyone in the Kremlin who resembled a statesman, they would have leaped at the opportunity to explore something like the Gorbachev vision. Europe has strong reasons to establish close relations with Russia, ranging from commerce to security. Whether such efforts might have succeeded, avoiding the Ukraine tragedy, we can only guess. The answer could only have been found out by trying. Instead, the hard men in Moscow turned to violence, compounding their criminal aggression with self-defeating foolishness."
This shows a distinct lack of understanding the power dynamics in post-WWII Europe, and legitimate French insecurities in context of the strategic pincer of AUKUS (read: "Anglo-Saxon" or Oceania if you prefer) and (the now nixed) German-Russian axis and the platform to affect it (NS2, also nixed). It also completely ignores Russia's stated demands in December 2021 for written replies form "US and NATO". They want to hear that 'proposal' from US and NATO, not an insecure France that is rightfully quite worried about a re-militarized Germany OR a Germany in bed with Russia. There is a reason Macron is burning the hot-line to Moscow - France knows it is one of the designated 'losers' of this geopolitical reshuffling. And for the same precise reason, Russia does not consider French assurances as meaningful.