i think in the last three weeks, something like four billion eros has been spent by the germans on a russian cat. And if you take the whole of europe, it's much, much larger. I just don't have to figure at my finger tips. It's very big. The huge change in german foreign policy lasted less than a week. That is, that does show there's a bit of life in the old western alliance yet, right? But let's not overdo it.
Following the fall of communism in 1989, American political scientist Francis Fukuyama shot to fame with his thesis about the ‘end of history’ – the idea that the entire world was set on a path towards universal liberalism. But 30 years on, liberalism is under attack from both the Right and the Left – and from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Professor Fukuyama was joined in conversation by John Gray, the British political philosopher, who rejects the idea of a universal momentum towards liberal values and human progress. Despite the view of many that the Russian invasion of Ukraine marks the end of the post-Cold War era, Fukuyama believes that it is a wake-up call for the West to rekindle the spirit of 1989, while Gray holds that the idea that liberalism will ever triumph is a mirage. Chairing the discussion is the journalist, author and broadcaster, Helen Lewis.
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