> it was vain hope that the cooperation and "playing nice" yes especially given that the US torpedoed any chance of really nicely getting along with Russia whe

> it was vain hope that the cooperation and "playing nice" yes especially given that the US torpedoed any chance of really nicely getting along with Russia when we go far enough back to a point where Russia could have gone in a different direction but there where many many clear indications that any such chance had passed since many years ago to a point where it was clear that going forward with the "playing nice" path would not work Through I guess part of the reason they tried anyway is because while the US is for the EU the most close aligned super power, there are still many differences. At the same time a major US <-> China conflict is on the horizon since decades and the EU is not and likely never will be in a position to go to war with China. Also in some few point the EU is closer to China then the US in their views. To cut it short AFIK an escalation of an US China conflict has a non small risk of the EU being torn up between the fronts (more economically then military), but a EU with strong ties to Russia would be string enough to not fully enter the conflict and in turn might come out more powerful then both the US or China