Vladimir Putin must now also be counted among the politicians who have rendered outstanding services to the unity of the EU and NATO.

Ironically, the man whose main foreign policy goals include decoupling America from Europe and also weakening the Europeans through division has welded the West together with his attack on Ukraine in a way that the Kremlin has not been able to do since Soviet times.

Even when looking at Germany, Putin actually has to ask himself: What have I done?

The Putin shock turned moralists, pacifists and Putinists into realists overnight who can no longer believe that they have been taken in by the Russian autocrat and his propaganda for decades.

Germany was one of the most important and weakest links in the West's chain of defense against Moscow's increasing aggressiveness.

That wasn't just down to Schröder, Merkel and Steinmeier.

Driven by a longing for peace and greed for profit, many others also ignored the signs on the Kremlin wall.

This happened so consistently that Putin could assume it would go on forever.

Germany was wrong, so was Putin

But Putin was as wrong about Germany as Germany was about Putin.

After an abrupt turnaround in its foreign and defense policy, Berlin is suddenly in the front row of those who shout at Putin: Not a step further!

To stop him, the traffic light parties give up positions that were sacred to them.

You can hardly believe your ears with the many individual U-turns.

Of course, it is nothing new that converts feel they have to make it particularly clear that they belong to the new religion.

After all, you also want to forget yourself that you have clung to a misconception.

Putin's war in Ukraine is becoming more diabolical by the day.

As long as the gates of hell remain open in Ukraine, it will be difficult in Germany to return to the old dreams of creating peace without weapons.

So far, the new creed has not required any major sacrifices from the Germans.

No one has yet to freeze to defend Ukraine, let alone enlist.

Taxes have not yet been raised for rearmament either.

Above all, one can - and must - still have hope that Putin will be forced, if not by reason, then by the resistance of the Ukrainians and the sanctions of the West to stop the war.

However, it could also be the case that Putin, aware of the failure of his campaign, continues to climb the escalation ladder.

He is now fighting not only for regime change in Ukraine, but also to preserve his rule in Russia.

Out of concern that a beleaguered Putin could go all out (nuclear) and open a front against NATO, the West is wondering how a “face-saving” retreat could be made possible for him.

But a solution that fulfills this condition without betraying their own values ​​and the struggle of Ukrainians for their freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity is hard to imagine.

Freedom is contagious

The thought that Putin might agree to Ukraine's EU membership if Ukraine renounced NATO forever reveals how strong the old superstition still is that compromises can be reached with the Kremlin that the Kremlin will stick to.

Putin has been torpedoing Ukraine's rapprochement with the EU since 2014. The EU stands for freedom, democracy and prosperity.

Putin cannot tolerate all of this on his doorstep: there is a risk of infection.

For Putin, a western Ukraine is the “anti-Russia” that he wants to prevent by all means, even by shelling nuclear power plants.

But how does the West intend to prevent Putin from preventing it?

Beyond achieving a ceasefire, what are the West's goals in this conflict?

The EU and NATO must also prepare for Putin to continue making moves that are not expected of him because they do not follow Western logic and cost-benefit calculations.

The hour may come when Germany must stand by its government's oath to defend every square meter of Alliance territory.

There is a Sauron in the real world too

All of this is asking a lot of a republic that until recently thought it was a Shire, as imagined by Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings.

Brutally awakened from his dreams by Putin, Germany discovers that in the real world, too, there is a dark realm of Mordor and a Sauron who wants to rule everyone.

And that it takes a lot of courage to stand in his way.

Ukrainians do it with the courage of desperation.

A good deal of courage can now also be seen in German politics, but also a hitherto unknown despair.