During my holidays I saw a vivid illustration of how the divisions that once plagued Europe can be healed. As I cycled across the border between Austria and Slovakia, not only did nobody ask to see my passport, I noted that the booths set up for inspecting travel documents have been entirely abandoned. There was something eerie about how the wind makes their shabby curtains flap even on a mild day, but it is nonetheless a welcome contrast to the fabled iron curtain that separated the two countries less than 20 years ago.
How depressing it was, then, to return to Brussels and immediately be confronted with proof that some of the deepest tensions between east and west have not abated.
Leaders taking place in this week's European Union summit on the situation in Georgia were as decisive as one could realistically expect them to be, given how the EU often lacks a cohesive position towards Russia. Talks on strengthening ties with Russia are to be suspended, humanitarian aid offered, a fact-finding mission dispatched and there will be a new addition to the EU's all-male team of special envoys.
It is only correct that Russia should be reprimanded for its reported attacks on civilians during the conflict. An unequivocal message that targeting non-combatants can never be acceptable would mark a clear departure from the EU's stance on the war in Chechnya, when several of the bloc's most powerful figures – Gerhard Schröder and Silvio Berlusconi among them – defended the trigger-happy antics of Russian troops.
What's more troubling, though, is the refusal of any EU government to acknowledge that their own policies are helping to revive animosities that should have been buried when the cold war ceased. When David Miliband argued that "Russia remains unreconciled to the new map of Europe", he should have levelled the same criticism at some of Britain's allies.
The agreements reached recently between Poland, the Czech Republic and the US on placing a missile defence shield in central and eastern Europe were bound to draw a hostile response from Russia. Announcing these deals at a time of heightened sensitivities was downright provocative.
Placing missile interceptors and radars on Polish and Czech soil could be end up firing the starting pistol for a fresh arms race. It is telling that this purportedly defensive but patently offensive system originated in the 1980s and is primarily designed to preserve American hegemony over this continent. Throwbacks to the era of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are never going to make the world – or even Europe – safer.
Likewise, the notion – advanced by many EU governments – that bringing Georgia and Ukraine into Nato will make them less vulnerable is a canard. Far from aiding these countries, admitting them to a body that continues to deem nuclear weapons "essential" for security and that is actively promoting increased military spending will only cause their relationship with Russia to deteriorate further.
Vladimir Putin's refusal to weaken his vice-like grip on power – even if he has demoted himself to the office of prime minister – exposes what a nasty autocrat he is. But that doesn't make him or his stooges wrong in being suspicious of the dangerous games that the US and a number of EU states are playing in Russia's backyard.
