Comments by "Nattygsbord" (@nattygsbord) on "BBC News" channel.

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  16. If Russia would just stop trying to meddle in other coutnries and bully and invade them, then I think that Eastern Europe would have loved to stay neutral and not joining either EU or Nato. So all this is actually Russia's own fault. Had Russia abolished its imperialist bully policies directly after the fall of the Berlin wall, then would Europe look very different compared to today. Many Russians would fear that they would lose the grip. Lose power and influence in the world. But I would argue that the opposite would happen. Eastern countries are slavic, orthodox and lies in close proximity to Russia so trade with Russia would make more sense than trade with the west. The west have another economic model and history. So countries would connect with Russia instead. Russias gas delieveries would make those countries dependent on Russia, while Russia would become dependent on trade with her former satellite nations. The East European countries would have had a 3rd option at their hand, and didn't have to chose between neoliberalism or Communism. Instead would they likely have picked socialdemocracy instead. EU would have been weaker, while Russia would have been stronger. And the EU would likely have been forced into moderation instead of going with hardcore neoliberalism as its economic model since the 1990s. CETA, TTIP and such nonsense would never have happened. And countries who wanted to leave the EU would have more options on the table - they could join the Russian club. Or they could have stayed outside any club and remained neutral as no club like the EU or the warzaw pact countries did hold total dominance over Europe like the EU does today.
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