I always find it remarkably refreshing how well Europeans from different countries get on together on a personal basis. I think the reason for this is that the insanity which prevailed throughout the early part of the C20th is over not just thanks to the EU, but because there is a strong realisation that we have been through so much that we must never let it happen again! It may well have been ingrained on the Russian psyche as well during the cold war. As Brezhniev said to Forde in a zil Limo in Moscow, while holding Forde's hand, - We have been through so much - way more killed than anyone else in ww2- we will never let it happen again!