It is dangerous to succumb to undiluted Europe-bashing. It’s a form of amnesia. It’s also an invitation to those who seek to break Europe’s integration, chief among them Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The Russian president sees the weak link in Europe’s chain in Greece, now governed by the left-wing Syriza party of Alexis Tsipras, whose dalliance with Moscow is worrying. Brussels is synonymous in Athens with German-imposed austerity. Gazprom is synonymous with blandishments, including up-front cash. The temptation to offset anti-European anger with Russia-coddling exists, even if it’s a dangerous blind alley. Greece does not belong with Belorussia or with Putin’s “anti-fascist” fascism-lite.

Of course, Putin was not the cause of Greece’s woes; he merely seeks to exploit them. Those woes, traceable to the misguided decision to include Greece in the euro at its outset for reasons of civilizational mawkishness, are not about to abate — and here we get to the reasons why 2015 is a critical year for Europe. Despite a brutal fiscal adjustment, the fact remains that Greece’s debt is not repayable. In fact it is probably even less repayable now than at the outset of the crisis. Syriza’s electoral victory was a reflection of the sentiment that something has to give.

At some point there must be debt forgiveness; the cost of stupid loans has to be recognized. Or there may be a Greek default. The worst outcome for Europe would be a Greek exit from the euro. Joining the shared currency, for all the nations in it, was an “irrevocable” decision. Once one country goes, the whole edifice wobbles. Markets are not sentimental about probing weakness. The constant question will be, “Who’s next?”

At the other end of Europe lies another danger, within another tenuous union, Great Britain. An election will be held May 7. It will be held as Britain shows signs of turning into Israel — that is a state where elections are merely the prelude to the real political business of trying to form a coalition government. A hung Parliament looks plausible. The big parties are weaker. Splintering is the name of the game.

Whether David Cameron’s Conservatives or Ed Miliband’s Labour will be the biggest party is unclear. But neither seems likely to be able to govern alone. Even short of formal alliances, Cameron may have to lean on the anti-immigrant, anti-European rant merchants of the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), and Miliband may need support from the Scottish Nationalist Party, which wants to break up Britain.