Oh, you may have confused me with the other guy you were replying to but you got me all wrong. I don't support Putin. My comment wasn't even about Ukraine. I just went off on a tangent because that kind of perverse collective leverage over smaller states is a pet peeve of mine (I'm an anti-statist.)

What you said about the EU is a scam. It's purpose was to be a new Roman Empire. Ultimately as a supranational trading block it will play a role in a neo-feudalistic world order as imagined in 1984. But that's besides the point - if they wanted to "uplift" people they could just donate money with no-strings attached. Any country or individual could freely give money to any other country or individual. But there's always a catch. Even with USAID. It's not about uplifting, it's about cultural influence. It's Globohomo. Poland has to give up their sovereignty or lose money. The superstates (Russia/China included) shouldn't have been allowed that kind of power but that's where we are and it was probably unavoidable. Hopefully at some point nationalists will realize sacrifices have to be made or we will forever be serfs working for unaccountable trading zones.