In September 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from the Munich Conference with Adolf Hitler after agreeing to what is called a policy of appeasement which means you give your opponent what they want so you don’t have to fight them. Chamberlain gave his reasoning in a radio address. “How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing…” He went on to say he felt sorry for a small nation confronting a big, powerful neighbor, but we can’t help.
Hitler was threatening to invade the Sudetenland, a German speaking section of Czechoslovak falsely claiming the Czech government was oppressing the people in the Sudetenland. The British, French, and Italian governments agreed not to stand in Hitler’s way. The Czech were not at the meeting. Chamberlain retuned from Munich famously saying he retuned from Germany “bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time.” No one wanted another war and many agreed with the policy. We all know what happened a year later. Hitler invaded Poland. The British and the French promised Poland they would come to its defense and declared war on Germany, and the world was at war again.
Fast forward to February, 2022. Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine claiming it still should be part of Russia as it was when the Soviet Union existed. The United States sent billions of dollars in weapons and aid as did other European countries. We also imposed sanctions on Russia. Mass destruction of the eastern part of Ukraine, thousands of deaths, war crimes against civilians resulted. Russia now controls about twenty percent of Ukraine. Along comes Donald “Dealmaker” Trump who says he can end the war in twenty-four hours. So he calls his old friend Vlad and says we have to end this thing, let’s meet. He then calls Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to tell him “oh by the way” Vald and I are going to meet we’ll let you know when and where. He then sends his Secretary of State Marco Rubio to meet with his Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia to start talks. This is the same guy Trump humiliated calling him “Little Marco” during Republican primary debates in 2016. No Ukrainians are invited to the meeting.
Let’s not forget completely unqualified Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. He makes the glaring rookie mistake of saying Ukraine will never be a member of NATO and it will have to give up some its territory giving away important bargaining chips. Putin couldn’t ask for anything more. Zelenskyy has said all along he doesn’t want to give up any territory that the Russians took. Trump claims we can get back in business with the Russians. Making billions in trade and getting access to not only their mineral deposits but Ukraine’s as well.
European nations are shocked and worried that Trump is turning his back on our allies to appease Putin. If there is one guy who loves the idea that we were dumb enough to put Trump back in office, it’s Putin. Putin knows Trump is just interested in personal power and can be fooled. Zelenskyy and Ukraine will be sacrificed. The rest of Europe and the world will now have to worry about what to do if Putin invades another country. He knows he got away with it once. He knows Trump won’t stand up to him.
History tells us appeasement is dangerous and never works. I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump never heard of Neville Chamberlain.
I fear what is likely to occur in the coming years.