I don't buy the "clay feet" argument. Everyone claimed Russia was overstretched and heading for collapse just days or max weeks after the invasion began—yet here we are.

Russia doesn't need massive military power to destabilize Europe. It simply needs to amplify the already present tensions and divisions. How difficult is it to still push the Green Deal? Or remind second-generation immigrants in France about Libya and Mali? Or convince eastern Germans they're second-class citizens, unfairly sidelined as AfD remains isolated behind a cordon sanitaire? How much does the UK need to implode on its own?

Once internal turmoil consumes Europe, who will have attention or energy left for the Baltics? Who will listen to Poland's concerns or watch election results in Slovakia?

Unless the EU drastically changes course—something I don't foresee—I believe it's doomed to endless meetings, empty resolutions, bureaucracy, and economic stagnation or worse.

But to suggest we would be better under Russian influence is utterly absurd. After all, how well did that work out the last time we were within Russia's sphere of influence?