Repeat of History

Never Betray a Friend

           I don’t understand why our president made an abrupt about face and is now suggesting that the world would be better off if Ukraine ceded Crimea and all other disputed territory to Russia. Our secretary of defense even refused to acknowledge that Russia was the aggressor. The administration seems to be trying to alter the truth. We can neither change the facts of history nor should we ignore them.         A century ago, Germany was suffering from defeat in World War One. Fifteen years after the end of the war, a radical political extremist came to power with the promise to reclaim their lost territory and to make Germany great again. He spent three years consolidating his power and building the nation’s military in defiance of signed promises.  Three years after rising to power, he began military operations against his neighbors. First, it was the Rhineland. Then the prime minister of England traded part of Czechoslovakia for the promise of peace. A peace that lasted less than a year before the Nazi tyrant occupied the rest of the country. His next objective was Poland, then France and the lowland countries of Belgium and Holland. He didn’t stop until the world was at war. Can you imagine how many lives would have been saved if Hitler was stopped when he attempted his first conquest?

            How can President Trump not see the parallel? A period of instability followed the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Putin rose to power in 2000 and immediately began to reclaim the Russian empire. Other than Afghanistan, his conquest of the Asian republics went pretty much unnoticed. He now controls Chechnya, Georgia and most of the region on Russia’s southern flank. Putin’s army occupied Crimea in 2014 while Europe and the rest of the world watched. Emboldened, just as Hitler was by his early conquests, Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine in 2022. It would appear that our president is going to sacrifice Ukraine to Russian aggression. It didn’t work with Hitler and it won’t work with Putin.

            President Trump’s background is in big business where promises are short term, lasting only as long as they make money. Governments operate differently, and nations have long memories. The Scots vividly remember Bonnie Prince Charlie’s war over 150 years ago, just as the Armenians remember Turkish occupation in World War I. We tried to rescue as many Montagnards as we could when we pulled out of Viet Nam, but we are still accused of betraying a friend.

            Russia is the aggressor. Bullies don’t quit being bullies until they are stopped. If Putin is successful in swallowing up Ukraine, he will continue pushing west. That is contrary to world stability and a threat to our country. We need to stop him now.

Frank Watson is a retired Air Force Colonel and long-time resident of Eastern Washington. He has been a free-lance columnist for over 20 years.