Comments by "Luredreier" (@Luredreier) on "Amid Kursk offensive: Sweden's FM talks about Russia's influence in West Africa | DW News" video.

@ican6401 Most European countries where neutral in most wars prior to WW1. Ukraine also sought non-alignment when possible. There's nothing cowardly with non-alignment. But it has to be picked with care. Both with regards to the impact on your own country and others. And sometimes it's just not a option anymore. Russia under Putin just are not a reliable negotiaton partner anymore.
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@AXXeYY Not exactly. You can have a social democrat against Russia too just fine. But socialists in Germany and Scandinavia have taken different historical paths during the and after the cold war with regards to the USSR and Russia respectively. Sholtz and his party has been forced to engage with and recognize that Russia under Putin isn't the relatively reliable trade partner that the USSR and Russia used to be. They've always been imperialists, but prior to Putin at least they used to operate within a framework of a system of international rules that we as smaller states at least could engage constructively with Russia and the USSR prior to that. Putin repeatedly shows a complete disregard to those rules. As does certain other imperialistic nations. And yes, there's probably a small element of imperialism involved in how France wishes to engage with Africa through the EU as their old relationships becomes less viable. But Europe is not France, but a whole continent, just like Africa itself, with both sinners and saints mixed together for better and worse.
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@mrnygren2 Actually, they "faught" Norway after Napoleon was defeated and we wanted independence. But in reality non of the casualties where hostile in nature. As usual at the time most deaths where outside the battlefield.
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