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Europe
False "Lessons" of 1939: Poland reminds us not to lead Ukraine down the "primrose path" to catastrophe
2022-03-18
[AmericanMind]
Posted by:Snonter Flaper6719

#3  Putin was following the pathway pioneered by Hitler in 1938-9.
Hitler convinced Chamberlain to give up his guarantees to Czechoslovakia in a conference at Munich in the Fall of 1938, and was allowed to taken over areas of that country that had German majorities. This alarmed Stalin, who worried that the Western powers could not be counted on to respect their international obligations.
Then in the Spring of 1939 Hitler took over the rest of Czechoslovakia, (with its large armament industry) with no real opposition, since the Czechs were defenseless after the first occupation.
This is what Putin expected to happen to Ukraine. It was supposed to consider its situation hopeless and accept Russian conquest.
Actually that occupation of Czechoslovakia, which grossly violated the Munich agreements, was greeted by Britain and France by mere talk, and this spooked Stalin completely and in response decided to make alliance with Hitler. His foreign ministry with that of Germany developed the plan to make war on Poland, and by so doing, started Wor;d War 2. Th USSR delayed its attack on Poland for two weeks for propaganda purposes, but documents show that the USSR was one of the countries that willfully started that horrible war.
(That it took part in the War Crimes trials in which Germans were punished both for war crimes and for starting the war, was part legitimate and part absurd.)
Hitler's success in Czechoslovakia and Poland at relatively little cost, boosted his popularity in Germany, and went to his head, causing him to decide to attack the USSR and the USA as well, in 1941.
Perhaps Putin is lucky that he has been bloodied in the early stages of his adventures.
Posted by: Goober Choluque6459!   2022-03-18 14:06  

#2  This says it all. Biden and the West did nothing to deter Russia and did everything to provoke Russia. The Ukrainians like the Poles in 1939-45 get to pay the price for Western failure
Posted by: Ulack Darling of the Texans4023   2022-03-18 10:34  

#1  This is true
"Washington’s loud championing of the Ukrainian cause has recently been accompanied by contrary signs of weakness and appeasement, from the humiliating botch of the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer to President Biden’s hint that a “minor incursion” into Ukraine might not occasion a decisive response. Like Chamberlain veering between irrational extremes in 1938-1939, the West’s Ukraine policy has blatantly provoked Russian anxieties and offered Ukrainians the false promise of an American security umbrella, while doing nowhere near enough to actually deter Russia. Ukraine may not suffer as badly as Poland did from 1939 to 1945, but much of the country has already gotten wrecked."
Posted by: Whinesing Shererong4016   2022-03-18 10:30  

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