Germany and Russia: Europe’s ultimate frenemies | How We Got Here

For decades, European policy toward Russia rested on an alluring premise: that trade, dialogue, and economic interdependence could make Moscow more predictable.

Germany embraced that logic more than most. Yet from Ostpolitik to Nord Stream, the strategy repeatedly collided with a harsher geopolitical reality.

In this episode of How We Got Here, Jan Darasz and Urszula Gacek trace the long German–Russian relationship and ask what it reveals about Europe’s strategic instincts. Why were the concerns of Poland and other states east of Germany treated as paranoia? And what happens when commercial logic is mistaken for security policy?

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:06 Historical patterns of German–Russian power politics
04:34 AfD support and political discontent in former East Germany
07:54 Ostpolitik and the logic of accommodation
11:31 German energy dependence and the Nord Stream projects
15:16 NATO expansion and failed expectations of Russian integration
19:40 Russian influence, sabotage, and political destabilization
22:41 Poland’s strategic position between Germany and Russia

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