I think it makes a lot more sense if you separate a country from their elite. It seems quite clear that the German elite class had been wholly corrupted by Rus

I think it makes a lot more sense if you separate a country from their elite. It seems quite clear that the German elite class had been wholly corrupted by Russia who offered them enrichment at the cost of Ukrainians and ultimately long term German security. It makes a lot more sense when you look at how America's own elites sold out America to China. All of this (charitably assuming good faith) was founded on the idea of inevitability. People thought peace was an inevitable result of trade, liberalization was an inevitable result of prosperity, and democratization an inevitable result of capitalism.