Europe in Ruins—New Identity Sought

With the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has severed the political and economic ties that have been built between Russia, the other successor states, and the rest of Europe since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The war and the West’s stop signal in the form of sanctions are now drawing a deep political and economic furrow through Europe, necessitating a new border that separates the East from the West. This adds to the still unresolved North-South divide, which characterized the Euro crisis, another political and economic rift between West and East, i.e., between (somewhat) democratically organized countries and autocracies. Within the EU, there is overwhelming support for Ukraine in its struggle for survival, coupled with the awareness that a credible security policy of the Union depends on the NATO partnership.