With former German chancellor Angela Merkel leaving her post, a question is prompted: will Merkel take a position in a US-sanctioned Russian energy company when she retires? If so, this will be the final nail in Europe’s casket. This fact would not be surprising, considering that corruption runs deep in this nation. For instance, Gerhard Schröder, ex-chancellor of Germany, is a notoriously corrupt Putin ally who advocates for Putin’s gas pipelines. Schröder owned a share in Gazprom, and he even chaired Rosneft. He is in control of Nord Stream AG and currently manages Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that connects these two nations. Germany is the most economically powerful nation in Europe. Democracy cannot flourish if politicians like Merkel have one foot in NATO and the other foot in Russia.

Europe keeps blaring about its commitments to Western values, yet the EU, NATO, and UN are at the top of their hypocrisy. The EU is just a symbolic bureaucracy that does nothing to curb Hungarian leader Victor Orban’s abuse of power. Atlanticism only gives the illusion of elite world leaders stabilizing global relations. NATO slams Ukraine for being corrupt, despite NATO members offshoring defense funds. NATO member Turkey is looking forward to buying Russian missile systems again, which is defeating the entire purpose of NATO. The UN is an assortment of individuals who are utterly powerless in the face of dictatorship all because of Russia’s veto power. Russia has prevented actions that would have held it accountable for atrocious crimes against humanity such as downing civilian Korean Airlines Flight 007 in 1983, that killed all persons on board. If Russia was voted off of the UN Human Rights Council, shouldn’t this organization reconsider Russia’s permanency status in the UN? 

Once an aggressor nation is identified within the UN, their vetoes should be invalidated and that country should be expelled from the UN entirely. The Kremlin has absolutely no place in the UN, let alone any civilized continent. Russia needs to be disconnected from SWIFT, which is a financial system that Russia’s economy heavily relies on. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline must be dismantled, as this is a means for Putin to control Europe. The West needs to put stronger sanctions on Russian officials and freeze the assets of Russians that offshore money in these countries. When this money is being invested into transatlantic economies, it undermines core democratic values. If Europe wants to be as progressive as it claims to be, it needs to recognize its own complicity in this Russian money laundering. 

I fault Europe for Putin’s corruption.