When the wall came down...

Documents recently published reveal that both this country and Russia had deep reservations about the reunification of Germany following the collapse of the East German state in late 1989. This reminded me of a conversation I had shortly after those events with an elderly man who had fought in both world wars. I was being very positive about the future, but I remember him saying to me "We've had to fight and beat 'em twice, and now, mark my words, sooner or later we're going to have to do it again". Is it too early yet to dismiss what he said?