The risks of overdependence on trade with Russia, China, or other autocracies aren’t just economic. They are existential. Following the invasion of Ukraine, Europeans learned the hard way how high a price they had paid for their decision to rely upon Russian gas. The shift to more expensive energy sources caused inflation. Inflation in turn caused dissatisfaction. Compounded by a Russian disinformation campaign, this dissatisfaction contributed to a surge in support for the German far right, a political movement that would alter the nature of postwar Germany beyond recognition, if it ever took
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