To Understand Europe in a quick manner, one has to understand the struggle for EQUALITY. It has been raging for centuries and it is still raging. The Enlightenment has still not come to an end; the work is still unfinished.

One big surprise that I do not see mentioned in your otherwise good article, Adebayo, is that the UK and USA also do not have true Equality. They are coloring the outcomes in Europe with a palette that is missing colors.

Democracy is Majority Rule, but UK and USA double Majority Rule which means they have Minority Rule (and this is not the minority on the bottom, mind you).

This is what I mean: In 2006, the US Senators won their seats on average with the support of 60% of the voters, 40% did not support them.

The US Senate makes filibuster decisions at 60%.

0.6 x 0.6 = 0.36, a very clear minority decision. When Majority Rule is compounded with another round of Majority Rule, the represented voters in the decision-making process are in the minority.

Compare this to other democracies that have Proportional Voting in place. Majority Rule occurs then just once. In the Netherlands, for instance, 99.01% of the voters can point at the person or party they handpicked themselves sitting in a seat. So, a 60% decision in the House is a majority decision indeed.

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When the UK has a political system in place that bars many voters from taking place at the decision-making tables, then this benefits an (economic) elite.

So, when we see the UK in this historical perspective, then we can actually see that they contributed to Hitler coming to power. They were elite-driven, supported by the wanky voting system. The UK (and France) had occupied so much of the world that other nations were strangle-held by them. They were NOT modern nations at all. They were not enlightened.

Let me be clear: There is no way for Germans to not-take responsibilities for what has happened in the past, but the UK and France were equally responsible for creating the situation that gave rise to a Germany and an Italy desiring to do the same as them, but couldn't to the same extent. UK and France were bullies, and Italy became a bully, Germany a monster.

Other than that, I am glad you wrote this article. It shows the world again that if we do not embrace Equality as a core value, then we can expect a madman to 'fall to the top' and wreak havoc on all decent societies around. Russia hopefully will implode and then embrace EQUALITY as a core value. Right now, they are the monster, with a madman at the wheel.