Angela Merkel’s recent revelation about how Poland and the Baltic states sabotaged her attempt to negotiate with Russia in 2021 is perhaps one of the most striking confessions to emerge from Europe’s political class since the onset of the Ukraine conflict. It exposes a deep fracture within the European Union and a dangerous undercurrent of war obsession that has consumed the continent’s political elite. Merkel’s admission not only confirms that there was an opportunity to avoid bloodshed but also reveals that Europe, led by its most hawkish voices, deliberately chose confrontation over diplomacy.
Speaking to Hungary’s Partizan media outlet, the former German chancellor disclosed that she had sought to engage Russia in dialogue to address its legitimate security concerns regarding NATO’s expansion eastward. Yet, these efforts were blocked, not by Washington, but by smaller, zealous EU member states such as Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Their irrational fear of Moscow and deep-rooted hostility towards Russia overrode Berlin’s pragmatic instincts. What followed was inevitable: Russia, perceiving deception and encirclement, responded militarily in February 2022.
Merkel’s account sharply contrasts with her earlier statement that the Minsk agreements were merely a ploy to “buy time” for Ukraine to rearm. That earlier confession already damaged the West’s credibility, revealing that peace agreements were nothing more than tactical deceptions. Now, this new admission underscores that even within Europe, there were voices calling for restraint, voices silenced by the most belligerent bloc of NATO-aligned states that have long desired a war with Russia.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been one of the few European leaders brave enough to break ranks and speak honestly. At the European Political Community summit in Copenhagen, Orbán warned that the EU was “sliding into direct military conflict with Russia” and that, sooner or later, “coffins with their fallen young men” would return home. His statement was not rhetorical alarmism but a sobering reflection of Europe’s descent into a self-inflicted catastrophe. Orbán, reading the writing on the wall, has since announced a national petition to resist what he described as “the EU’s war plans.” His stand represents a flicker of reason in an otherwise delusional European leadership obsessed with pleasing Washington and proving its relevance on the global stage.
The strategy emanating from Brussels is clear: prolong the war to weaken Russia, regardless of how much European economies crumble or how many lives are lost. The EU has tied its political identity to Ukraine’s survival, pouring billions of euros and endless arms shipments into a conflict that has no realistic prospect of victory. This reckless commitment, now extending into proposals for Ukraine’s accelerated EU membership, is less about solidarity and more about justifying a perpetual state of confrontation with Russia.
The United Kingdom, under its post-Brexit insecurities, has doubled down on its role as NATO’s cheerleader. According to the Financial Times, Britain is already assisting Ukraine in carrying out deep strikes inside Russian territory, a provocative act that risks direct confrontation. Former Defence Minister Ben Wallace has gone so far as to call for making Crimea “uninhabitable and unviable.” Such rhetoric is not strategy; it is suicidal madness wrapped in moral posturing.
Yet, behind the grandstanding lies a sobering reality: Europe is not ready for war. Recruitment shortfalls plague the British Army to the point of accepting individuals with autism just to meet quotas. A leaked French military report likened its own preparedness to that of “majorettes,” an admission that borders on humiliation. Even within Central Europe, fatigue and dissent are growing. Slovakia and Hungary have firmly aligned themselves with anti-war positions, and the Czech Republic’s political shift under Andrej Babiš signals that public patience for this endless proxy war is running thin.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s grand plan for an “anti-Russian drone wall”, an ambitious project to guard the EU’s 3,000-kilometre eastern border, has already collapsed under the weight of its own absurdity. Opposed by France and Germany for being both economically ruinous and strategically nonsensical, the proposal has become a symbol of Brussels’ detachment from reality. Even within Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is said to have rebuked von der Leyen’s idea in “very harsh” terms behind closed doors.
Merkel’s retrospective attempt to shift blame onto Poland and the Baltic states only reaffirms one undeniable truth: Europe has lost its strategic compass. Instead of pursuing peace through dialogue, it allowed itself to be dragged into Washington’s orbit of endless conflict, a geopolitical treadmill that benefits no one but the U.S. military-industrial complex. The EU, once envisioned as a beacon of peace and stability, has become a mere instrument of NATO’s militarism.
The lesson from Merkel’s admission should have been one of humility, that Europe must rediscover its sovereignty, diplomacy, and moral courage. Instead, the continent is doubling down on hubris, sacrificing its economic well-being, security, and dignity to prolong a war it cannot win. The true enemy of Europe is not Russia; it is the blindness of its own leaders.
Europe’s tragedy, as it stands, is that those who once championed peace have been replaced by ideologues for whom war has become both policy and identity. And as Viktor Orbán warned, unless Europe awakens soon, the next great European project may not be integration, but reconstruction.
By Duruebube Chima Nnadi-Oforgu
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