This article discusses Grzegorz W. Kolodko’s two most recent books, viz. Świat w matni. Czwarta część trylogii [The World in a Snare: The Fourth Part of the Trilogy] and Wojna i Pokój [War and Peace]. The latter publication is something of a counterpart to the former. It contains the author’s clarification of his vision of the world as being in a “snare”, especially in the context of the war in Ukraine. Unfortunately, the current armed conflict means the loss of any possibility of a “new Belle époque” materializing in Europe, let alone almost covering its entire eographical dimension. The signs that such a period was in the offing began with the collapse of the Yalta order. And this in spite of all the tensions and crises that had taken place and whose sources often lay outside Europe.