https://arab.news/pfzar
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a wakeup call for Europe, confirmation that the post-Cold War collective security architecture was shattered. This should have surprised no one since the crisis had been looming even before Russia brazenly and illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and supported pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk to fight against the Ukrainian military.
It is now four years since the invasion of Ukraine, and the war is far from over, a situation that is not helped by international attention shifting to other arenas of conflict and crisis. In the meantime, Russian aggression has forced much of Europe to define what it stands for and how to protect itself against common enemies.
The post-Cold War era’s apparent global liberal-democratic honeymoon was fading long before the Russian invasion. With the war in Ukraine, a new reality is staring Europeans in the face, leaving them no choice, if they want to protect their values and way of life, other than to actively support Ukraine. The EU and UK recognized that failure to stand up to Russia would only increase its appetite, and it might turn against other countries, including EU members. Four years on, the war has not only redrawn battle lines in Eastern Europe but also reshaped Europe’s political and strategic landscape.
