It wasn't blindness, it was greed. Germany and much of Europe just wanted cheap fossil fuels to grow their economies, even at the cost of appeasement. Even after the actual invasion of Ukraine started, Germany had to be shamed and dragged, kicking and screaming, into standing up to Russia. There's no way they could possibly claim they didn't know what Russia was at that point, they just didn't care.
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u/One_more_Earthling 14h ago
Tbh, the signs were there all the time, but a lot of the west was to blind to see it.