Maybe future generations of Germans will understand the colossal gift their government threw away with disregarding Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Russian leader who lived in Dresden for years, speaks German, whose daughter was born in Saxony, and who repeatedly offered genuine partnership and friendship to the German people. Around the turn of the millennium, there was a real chance to combine Russian resources with German engineering and build a powerful, nearly untouchable alliance stretching from Vladivostok to Lisbon. Instead, short-sighted and corrupt German politicians sabotaged it all, willingly aligning themselves with those in Washington who would rather see Germany and Russia locked in a devastating conflict. What could have been a historic partnership was tossed aside for political expediency, and the devastating consequences are still unfolding. Here is the historic speech the Russian president delivered in German to the Bundestag on September 25, 2001. He directly addressed the German people in their own language. This was a moment that, had it been seized, would have changed everything....