. Wikimedia CommonsOne of the main event halls in downtown Vienna, the Sofiensäle, hosted a congress on “peace in Europe” for renowned and disputed political figures of Europe.The title could hardly have been higher; correspondingly high was the interest in advance. Among others, invited were the former Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán by Roger Köppel, a right-wing Swiss publisher viewed as friendly to Russia. Both of them are no strangers to criticism, respectively, because of their cozy relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and their hard stance against the current European Union position regarding the conflict in Ukraine.Smartly dressed in their suits and finery, the guests flowed into the hall, the air charged with anticipation, as if this were the premiere of some grand opera. This was not any kind of political rally; it was instead a gathering of true believers brought together by their disillusionment with mainstream European policy and their conviction that what was immediately needed in Ukraine was not more military…