FWIW, there is a really good Great Courses course on Eastern Europe that addresses those countries’ historical frustration with being considered something other than European. Geographically, Russia is a largely Asian country, which probably doesn’t help with that impression.
You know who else was complicit with the Nazis? Germany. And yet, Poland nowadays regards Germany as a close ally. Nations change. Especially since almost every individual who actually had anything to do with the Nazis is now dead.
Putin’s catastrophic decision to invade Ukraine has laid bare how deeply flawed Russia is. He pumped huge money into the military, but it was mostly siphoned off via corruption. They’ve burned through their best front line units because they use conscripts in their maintenance and supply units and they’re best units weren’t supported. Putin has tied success in this war to the foundational myths of his dictatorship and he is losing, badly.
Sure, forgive and forget, right? Couldn’t possibly happen again, right?
Poland sees itself as a modern European nation and Germany is an important guarantor of stability in Europe, especially since America’s continued role as guarantor of European peace and stability is not assured, to say the least. Germany is the future of Europe and Poland and Ukraine want to be part of that future. The threat is from the Russian army slaughtering and burning to the east of Germany.
I’m wondering whether the reason Russia doesn’t fight the way NATO does is because it can’t, or because it won’t.
Sure, Russia isn’t a rich nation. But it’s like their strategy and doctrine is fundamentally different. They like ground infantry and artillery, rather than worshiping precision airpower, C4ISRT and joint warfare the way the West does.
“We taught them a lesson,
In 1918
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then.” - Tom Lehrer.
However things are different. Go to Berlin, and the Brandenburg Gate. There is a haunting, beautiful and honest Holocaust Museum. Even better than the one in DC. Paces away is the spot where Hitler’s body was incinerated. A patch of dirt with no memorial, no honor, just like he deserves.
You answered your own question here. Russia’s military is small and shrinking, as is their economy. They simply don’t have the power to do anything else. If they’d had a democratic form of government, the people would have opted out of this disaster before it even started (not because they like Ukraine but they’d be better situated to understand the costs and make better choices).