For years the West said economic cooperation would persuade dictators to support rules based international order. But all we did was feed their economies while letting them break all the rules. China is betting that we will repeat this mistake. It's time to try something else👇🧵
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126900841000963
We bought energy, we transferred technology, we invested in totalitarian regimes. We enabled them to grow. Not for the practical benefits, but due to the messianic delusion that the spread of western influence is inevitable and can only bring change for good.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126906356514818
Our entanglement made us strategically blind. We ignored the threats made not only to countries bordering Russia but also to western society itself. Armies were neglected, borders left undefended, our capacity to rise up and repel invaders diminished.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126910844411906
Alongside weak foreign policy, western countries also weakened internally. Corruption, weaponised radicalisation and interference in elections became the norm.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126915453894656
The defence of Ukraine is not only about defending the rules-based order against the return of 20th century barbarism. It is also about us stepping up to defend ourselves.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126920206041089
Unfortunately, our geopolitical blindness has not yet been cured. We chose not to see the threat of Russian aggression, and now we are choosing not to see the threat of Chinese aggression. We are on the verge of repeating the same mistake.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126925373489153
We asked Russia not to invade Ukraine. We asked Russia not to invade Georgia. We made phonecalls. The result was a tragically predictable disaster.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126930503032832
Our strategy clearly failed with Putin. Now, instead of increasing defence spending and manufacturing output or strengthening our transatlantic connection, we are asking another totalitarian to help us “secure peace” in Europe? This would be a mistake bigger than Nordstream.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126937650130944
We are capable of defending Europe without Chinese help. Instead of requesting assistance we should be projecting our strengths, showing the world that Ukraine, Europe and the US are willing and able to secure the European continent. That is the only signal we should be sending.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126944545648645
The same strong signal has to be sent to Taiwan. We must declare that the island and its democracy-loving people are part of the rules-based order and that we will fight against any attempt to change the status quo by force, because we are willing and able to do what's right.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126950350573568
I propose we recognise the benefits and necessity of transatlantic unity, and commit to globally defending the rules we all agreed on. I don't suggest begging for dictators to help secure peace in Europe. There is a long and bloody trail of evidence against that strategy.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126961066901506
The world order was born out of the transatlantic victory against oppressors and invaders. Some decided to opt out of this order and they still seek its destruction. In response, there is no substitute for transatlantic unity, so we must protect and defend it, not dismantle it.
🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/GLandsbergis/status/1646126957191413762