Imperial ambitions, brutal war against a neighboring country, domestic repressions — the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was created to prevent such events. How did it happen that the security structure that inspired the revolutions of freedom and the building of a united Europe was powerless before the aggression of one of its member states? What did the West not understand about Russia and why was open criticism of Russia perceived as a risky provocation for so long? Can we still salvage the very idea of security based on principles rather than force? Fredrik Löydqvist, founder and director of the Stockholm Center for East European Studies and former Swedish ambassador to the OSCE, discusses this in an article for Eurozine.
Read the original article in English
Read the Russian language version at Sapere Aude online