Rumsfeld’s New Europe.
“Ukraine War Accelerates Shift of Power in Europe to the East”
“The war has raised the influence of Central and Eastern European countries with negative views of Russia, amplified calls to expand the E.U. and NATO, and dimmed the power of France and Germany.”
“In August, in Prague, the chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, said it bluntly: “The center of Europe is moving eastward.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a shock to the complacent European order, both to the European Union and to NATO. And it has underscored and enhanced the influence of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Poland and the Baltic states have driven the moral argument to support Ukraine, filling a near-vacuum early in the war, when Europe’s traditional leaders, France and Germany, appeared paralyzed. But the war has also brought new urgency and energy for the enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkans and beyond, with offers of candidacy for Ukraine and Moldova.
Vocal pressure from Eastern and Central Europe was crucial to the decisions this week, after months of wrangling and resistance, to give Western tanks to Ukraine. On Wednesday, Mr. Scholz announced that his country would supply some of its Leopard 2 tanks and allow other countries to send theirs, and President Biden said he would send American Abrams tanks, which gave Mr. Scholz the political cover he wanted.”
When Ukraine joins NATO / EU, power will shift even more eastward. Poland and Ukraine will be the backbone of NATO’s European military power.
“Central and Eastern European countries, Ms. Puglierin said, see themselves as “the freedom fighters in the E.U. and defending its values, standing up to dictatorship.” They feel vindicated in their longstanding warnings about Russia’s neo-imperialism, its president, Vladimir V. Putin, and Europe’s dependence on Russian energy — in contrast to what they see as Western Europe’s naïveté about diplomacy and trade with Russia.”