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There are in that vast and geopolitically decisive area of Eastern Europe two great antagonist powers, Russia and Germany. In some respects Germany is a greater power than Russia may ever become: German culture and world-outlook have been historically crucial shapers of the region, second in importance only to Christianity. Despite Hitler and other aggressive German rulers of the past (Germany took part in the three partitions of Poland in the eighteenth century, for example), Germany remains the window through which many of the nations of that region receive and adopt Western values. In contrast, Russia, czarist or Communist, has not been regarded as part of Europe, but as an Asian power, despotic, inverted, savage. In a choice between Russia and Germany, the immense majority of Eastern Europeans would choose the latter.

Bubec, Handelsblatt Rothco

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There are in that vast and geopolitically decisive area of Eastern Europe two great antagonist powers, Russia and Germany. In some respects Germany is a greater power than Russia may ever become: German culture and world-outlook have been historically crucial shapers of the region, second in importance only to Christianity. Despite Hitler and other aggressive German rulers of the past (Germany took part in the three partitions of Poland in the eighteenth century, for example), Germany remains the window through which many of the nations of that region receive and adopt Western values. In contrast, Russia, czarist or Communist, has not been regarded as part of Europe, but as an Asian power, despotic, inverted, savage. In a choice between Russia and Germany, the immense majority of Eastern Europeans would choose the latter.

Bubec, Handelsblatt Rothco