Though most of my readers are well enough versed in history to be aware of what happened during the 1930s in Europe, I would suspect that the majority of Americans know very little about that era.
It has been said that those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it, and it appears that a large portion of the American public, including its president, have not studied history. Europe, and particularly England, in the late 1930s made the fatal mistake of permitting Hitler to get away with invading and taking over parts or Europe. He initially justified these moves with claims that the territories he invaded were historically German, and that he was claiming the right to retake these territories for Germany. (does this sound anything like what Vladimir Putin has been saying about Ukraine?) By the time Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia that flimsy argument was fully discredited.
The rationale for appeasement was that it would avert a larger war. We all know that a larger war nonetheless ensued. The leaders of the time really should have anticipated that their weak response to Hitler would exacerbate it. Hitler’s claims of limited goals meant nothing. So it is with Putin.
If we truly were determined to counter Russian aggression, clearly the response of the United States and our NATO allies was far too cautious, inefficient and inadequate. Like Chamberlain in 1938 we were more afraid of setting off a larger scale war than we were determined to rein in Putin. As a result, many lives were lost and Russia was afforded the time it needed to dig in and to create a stalemate enabling it to build up its forces at its leisure. All current indications predict that even if Trump is able to broker a peace between Ukraine and Russia, it’s unlikely that Ukraine will emerge with restoration of the borders that existed prior to the Russian invasion. That would reward Russia for its aggression and only encourage future aggression. That Russia would honor a cease-fire for long or curtail its assault on Ukraine and surrounding nations indefinitely seems to me like a pipe dream..
Although I was never enamored of George Herbert Walker Bush, I give him credit for his response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. He sent an overwhelming force into the region and pushed Saddam Hussein back into his own territory. I will concede that a threat to the United States from Iraq at that time paled in comparison with the potential for a confrontation with Russia, however, the basic logic underlying our action in Kuwait was spot on. Tragically, the younger Bush did not leave well enough alone. The ultimate failure of his actions and what followed over the next 20 years in the Middle East no doubt undermined the world’s perception of American power and served to embolden Putin’s actions in Ukraine.
While I admit I am no authority on such matters and could well be wrong, from the time Russia invaded, I felt that an overwhelming show of force within Ukraine by NATO, despite the risks, would have been the better response. The failure of America and our NATO allies to adopt GHW Bush’s Kuwait strategy in Ukraine and the cozy relationship Trump has formed with Russia have served to put the rest of the Western world, and Ukraine, into a weak and dangerous position. European nations may now be forced to send troops into Ukraine or risk successful Russian invasion of their own countries anyway. Maybe they should have done it to begin with.
What will ultimately ensue is yet to be seen, however, one thing seems clear to me. Had the West learned from history, it is quite possible that we would not be facing the dire state of affairs that we are facing today.
An Author's Inner Mind 