In Central and Eastern Europe, the West used to play a revolutionary role while Russia was that of a reactionary usurper. Today, the West has been hoisted by its own petard and the roles of the two powers in the region have reversed.

The West was once the defender and champion of the rights for those who suffered from unfavourable geopolitical arrangements after the Second World War. At least, it played this role in the territories where it competed with the Soviet Union and later the post-Soviet autocracies which emerged after the post-Cold War chaos of the 1990s. The West helped bring down communism in the region and its remains which were trying to survive in Russia and Serbia. It defended the rights of Kosovo’s Albanians, Muslim Bosniaks and Croats attacked by Serbs. Before that it was the main defender of the residents of the Eastern bloc, and all the nations that wanted to free themselves from Soviet rule. Today, the situation is entirely different.

ZIEMOWIT SZCZEREK: What do people in the West think about Europeans from the East? Are they “us” or “they”? HANS HENNING HAHN: The concept of “us” is always dependent on how we understand “them”. The more we think about other regions of the world, for example the Arab world, as being different from us, the […]

There are places which do not fully fit the region in which they are placed. American journalist, Robert D. Kaplan, believes that Greece is closer to the Middle East than Western Europe. Following this path, we can say that Georgia in some ways resembles the Balkans more than other countries of the Caucasus, while Albania […]

There are places which do not fully fit the region in which they are placed. American journalist, Robert D. Kaplan, believes that Greece is closer to the Middle East than Western Europe. Following this path, we can say that Georgia in some ways resembles the Balkans more than other countries of the Caucasus, while Albania […]