It was not then possible to forecast with certainty whether and how long the Czar's friendship would remain a realisable political asset. In any case… - Otto von Bismarck

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It was not then possible to forecast with certainty whether and how long the Czar's friendship would remain a realisable political asset. In any case, however, simple common sense enjoined us not to let it fall into the possession of our enemies, whom we might discern in the Poles, the philo-Polish Russians, and, ultimately, probably in the French.