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There is an old saying that is well known to our Russian neighbors: "If someone tells you that you are drunk, ignore it, but if three people repeat it, go to bed."

These are hard facts that speak for themselves: In 2014 Ukraine was invaded, its eastern part was separated, and Crimea was occupied and annexed to the Russian Federation.

With this act, Moscow broke all norms of international law, including the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, which guaranteed the territorial integrity of Ukraine and which the Russian Federation co-signed.

Numerous people died, thousands lost their homes and livelihoods.

I witnessed the interference in the US election of 2016 when I was working in Washington at the time.

On “anonymous” online platforms it was argued that one either had to support Donald Trump or it was not worth voting at all.

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Just recently, more than 100,000 Russian soldiers were on full alert at the borders of Ukraine, and the Kerch Strait was closed. Meanwhile, Alexei Navalny, President Putin's political opponent, is sitting in a gulag where he may face the worst possible end. The internal opposition has largely been eliminated, and there is no longer any free media.

This list of aggressive and anti-democratic gestures and actions goes on and on and sounds like one big indictment against a country with a huge territory and a strong army that refuses to recognize that the much smaller and weaker states also have the right to to decide their own fate, and that the big and strong always have a special obligation towards the smaller and weaker ones.

And that would in principle say everything, if it were not for the fact that the growing tensions in relations between the West and Moscow are only one element of the global confrontation between two value systems, not to say civilizations, in which liberal democracy corresponds to Faces authoritarianism.

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In the past decade, populism and authoritarianism have increased around the world.

The thesis of social weariness, of "lukewarm water in the tap" or in other words: the relative stability that releases neither energy nor emotions, is only part of the truth.

Contemporary security threats, financial instability, growing income inequalities and, ultimately, the progressive isolation of entire social groups have given rise to fears of the future, while at the same time creating a need for a system of government that is efficient and at the same time appeals to the defense instincts of every individual citizen and the community as a whole.

The populists promise a system of government that will solve all problems quickly and definitively, albeit at the expense of individual freedom and the inalienable right to dissent.

This promise proves to be tempting, especially where the representative institutions are not firmly anchored in the structures of the state or simply function suboptimally.

This is particularly, if not exclusively, true for post-colonial as well as post-communist areas.

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A prime example of one-man rule supported by dependent oligarchs - the modern boyars - has been Vladimir Putin's Russia for several years, where the president, like a good tsar, elevates everyone or condemns them to nonexistence, distributes gifts or takes everything away from them can. He can also, if it is his will, conquer a neighboring country or make it a vassal, because this brings him fame and prestige among his subjects.

In recent years, a number of political parties and movements, mostly of European origin, have drawn generously from the fund of practices of Putin's Russia and sought or implemented policies that restrict civil liberties, abolish the rule of law and do away with the media.

In place of compromises, there was an aggressive enforcement of own goals in accordance with one's own strength, and in the place of dialogue with opponents there were repressive measures.

The extreme right has sympathy for Putin

My country has not been spared this highly contagious disease either.

Some European far-right politicians exposed their political sympathies and ties to Putin's Russia, while others deeply hid them for fear of the electorate's reaction.

For most of the leaders of the new, expansive conservatism, the path to the success of European populism led, among other things, to reducing the role of the European Union to the purely economic functions of the EEC era.

No community of values, no control.

And all of this under the false slogans of more freedom and sovereignty.

In 2016, even the “motherland of democracy” embarked on this path - the United States of America under Donald Trump, whose personal ambitions and weaknesses Moscow had cleverly exploited to dismantle the community of the liberal West.

Today there is no doubt that Trump admired Putin, envied his abundance of power and felt a sense of gratitude for his support in the victorious election campaign.

However, Trump was unable to convince either the political elite or the general public in his country to enter into an alliance with the Russian ruler, which is exotic for Americans, for the purpose of co-rule over the world.

Nobody in the US could understand that.

So there were angry gestures in the direction of Moscow, but Vladimir Putin knew only too well that without the support of the EU, the unity of NATO and, above all, the determination to defend fundamental democratic values, they could not prevent him from implementing his ambitious plan : Russia's return as a global empire.

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Weakened by Brexit, the refugee crisis and the internal division, the European Union has again become more of a plaything for the two powers than an active player in international politics.

The extent of the problems was even beyond the capabilities of the previously reliable Franco-German tandem.

The EU faced the horrific vision that more members, especially from its central and eastern parts, would leave the club and the whole thing might even break up.

If one had asked two years ago who, besides its creators, still likes the Union, there would have been a polite but embarrassing silence.

As in the First and Second World Wars, during the reconstruction of the destroyed Europe after the war and in the Yugoslavia crisis, the rescue came from overseas.

On January 20, Joseph R. Biden was sworn in as the new President of the United States.

Regardless of how you view America's current role in the world (some predict its power to wane), the victory of a politician with decidedly liberal views and a strong mandate to reform America could mark a turning point in world politics.

However, on one condition, namely that the fight against the pandemic, the economic reconstruction of the country and the equalization of rights and life chances for citizens of different races, religions and backgrounds succeed.

The possible, even probable, success of Biden and his team becomes the clearest practical evidence of the permanence and vitality of the idea that the polity of free citizens is superior to the regime of obedient and enslaved individuals.

At the same time, its success would challenge the populist international that already believed it was in government in Paris, Berlin, Rome or Madrid.

Community of Democracies

For the revival of liberal democracy, to restore people's belief in the benefits of agency, the most important thing is to be effective at home. But the fight against authoritarianism will also take place internationally or is already taking place. In this context, Ukraine, with its pro-Western and pro-democratic aspirations, is the first and probably not the last front to open up, and at the same time it offers an opportunity to rebuild and consolidate what Madeleine Albright and Bronislaw Geremek initiated 20 years ago, namely the community of democracies.

If there has been a time in recent years to reaffirm our determination to defend our common values, but also our mutual obligations within a transatlantic alliance, now is now. The thing that is at stake is Ukraine. It is about the country itself, but also about the interests of the United States and the European Union.

Unlike the US, Europe has an innate problem with unanimity.

It affects a wide range of issues, with relations with Russia being among the more important and difficult.

Short-term economic interests, but also historical ties or conflicts, are decisive.

Geopolitics also plays a role.

Dangers can be better recognized up close.

Some of the players clearly remember imperial behavior and threats, others of exquisite ballet and Tchaikovsky music.

Putin challenges Biden

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Moscow effectively and precisely distributes threats and gifts and makes perfect use of differences in position. Vladimir Putin knows that turning off a light only spoils the mood. He's afraid he'll run out of power. A confrontation with a compact European-American front is purely hopeless for the Kremlin, which is why it ruthlessly and fearlessly tests Biden's leadership qualities and the unity of the Union. However, it cannot be ruled out that Putin will be disappointed this time around.

A difficult time awaits us, full of challenges and dangers.

The plane we're flying in will rock and it's worth putting on your seat belts.

But if Washington, Berlin, Paris and London give up even a little of their own ambitions and expectations in order to work together to stop the advance of populism and authoritarianism, we will surely end up at the airport of democracy.

Ryszard Schnepf, Polish politician and ex-ambassador to the USA

Source: Bartek Kozlowski

Ryszard Sznepf is a Polish diplomat.

He was his country's ambassador to the United States until 2016.