To summarize, promoting democracy is never politically safe. The
West is doomed to be inconsistent, opportunistic, and exposed to charges
of double standards. Democracy promotion also inevitably means poking various autocratic bears, big or small, and there is always a chance
that when they become irritated and existing power balances become
unsettled, dangerous and unpredictable results may ensue. This is what
the European Union learned the hard way in Ukraine