Anne Applebaum, an historian, famous for her Pulitzer Prize winning book “Gulag: A History of the Soviet Camps” now is finishing its work on the another piece of work titled “Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56”. Being an historian is not only her profession, she is also a journalist, writing a regular column for the Washington Post, which should be mentioned  here with her latest entry Europe must face up to ongoing euro crisis. That is an elegant writing, bringing a historian perspective to a global financial crisis and in particular to a crisis of Euro zone.

In fact it is more about how we are facing it and why, showing relatively young democracies in south of Europe struggling with debt and austerity, where honesty in politics bas been overshadowed by incoming governments competing with governments before on who will spend more on pensions or severance payments. And it was evident that one day this should end, not because politicians will see fatal consequences of rising debt, but rather because one day they will simply lose credibility in their ability to manage the situation. Even the electorates which were nourished for a long time with generous promises for a better life now will have to recognise in pain that they are on their own. The damage was done and now the people should start thinking critically on how to contribute for their country themselves instead of waiting innocently for the next promises to come.

South of Europe is bringing its north and east painful lessons, which should be learned and this page of history be turned by telling a simple truth to the people. This is what a democracy is about.