The deep-seated motives behind this war can be found not only in the neo-Imperial fantasies of the autocrat currently in the Kremlin but also in deep transatlantic and internal European rifts of the past. These flames have been rekindled by the West’s own decades-long narrative and further fanned by the rise of illiberal, antidemocratic movements. Only last year the hurried withdrawal from Afghanistan punished, indeed exposed as a lie, any notion of the geographical West as a glowing community of defence and shared values. Expert in foreign and security policy, Constanze Stelzenmüller gives an analysis of what Putin’s war means for the west, and for Europe in particular. If we are to defend our open, liberal and mutually dependent democracies then we must get our own house in order, show responsibility for one another in Europe, in any alliance and in the world and become far more assertive towards autocratic powers like Russia and China.

*‘With his threat to use nuclear weapons, Putin has already committed a breach of civilisation. He has shattered one of our post-war norms.’

*Constanze Stelzenmüller on the ZDF programme ‘maybrit illner’

*How the West had already weakened itself prior to Putin’s war

*The motives of the Russian autocrat

*How we in Germany and Europe can better protect ourselves against Russia and China in the future

*A comprehensive analysis of foreign policy and security policy in our new era

*One of Germany’s most renowned experts on this subject

*The author is a regular guest on talk shows