We're talking about whether Putin's character was something a country like Germany could bank its energy policy on starting in the 2010s. That's not a question

We're talking about whether Putin's character was something a country like Germany could bank its energy policy on starting in the 2010s. That's not a question of international law, of US policy in 1999, or US actions in Iraq. Chechnya was evidence of what he's willing to do for political gain. Georgia was evidence of territorial ambition. Assassinations in UK and Europe showed us he saw those countries as no different than any other. Yet western leaders spent years trying to convince themselves and their people that Russia could be trusted as a partner. I agree that there was little to nothing anyone could do about Chechnya, but that doesn't mean we couldn't learn from it.