Germany's strategy towards Russia has gone so well that in the present crisis Vladimir Putin thinks he can be confident that Europe will not use force to defend Ukraine, and that the EU’s will to confront Russia through political means is also extremely fragile.
We should not underestate the seriousness of the government's attacks on those seeking to expose its surveillance secrets. At stake is not only what the state is entitled to do to the public, but what journalists are entitled to do to expose it and perform the vital role of public watchdog.
As freedom of expression and journalistic independence comes under renewed threat in eastern Europe and around the world, the BBC should be confronting censorship abroad head-on, as well as leading by example
