Britain, France, and Germany have never understood Russia, and their policies towards Russia have always been bloody-minded, murderous, and stupid. Consider that the rationale for the Crimean War (1853-56) was to reduce Russia’s growing influence within a region that had long been controlled by the Ottoman Empire. In other words, the geniuses in London preferred the weak rule of Ottoman slave traders in the Black Sea to that of the Christian Czar Nicholas I.
In 1812, Napoleon’s advisor, Armand-Augustin-Louis de Caulaincourt, as well as his ex-wife Josephine (whose counsel he had usually valued) begged him not to invade Russia, but he refused to listen to them.
Because of his obstinate pride, he failed to recognize the obvious trap that Russian commander General Mikhail Kutuzov set for him—namely, that of strategic retreat deep into Russia with winter setting in, thereby overextending the French supply lines and letting the Russian winter do most of the grim work on French soldiers.
After declaring war on Russia in August 1914, Germany and Austro-Hungary established the Eastern Front in the Austrian territorial possession of Galicia, which is now part of western Ukraine. In June 1916, the Russian Army launched the Brusilov offensive, inflicting approximately one million casualties on the German and Austrian armies. I suspect that few if any members of the E.U. Parliament even know about the Brusilov offensive.
In 1941, intoxicated by his easy victory in France, Hitler decided to launch Operation Barbarossa, thereby committing the German Army to the same misery the French had suffered in 1812. German Chief of Staff, Franz Halder, strongly advised him against it, but the “Little Corporal from Austria” refused to listen to him.
Now we come to Ursula von der Leyen’s Nov. 25, 2025 speech before the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, which may be the most nonsensical address ever uttered in the history of Europe.
