In 1938, the United Kingdom and France signed the Munich Agreement (with Germany and Italy). The agreement, now known as the "appeasement", allowed Germany to seize the Sudetenland part of Czechoslovakia. They thought giving that land to Hitler would prevent him from starting another World War. They were wrong. It just made Hitler think the U.K. and France were weak, and only a year later he invaded Poland, starting World War II.We seem to be seeing a repeat of history -- only this time it is Putin and Ukraine. The Western nations expect Putin's army to be successful in taking Ukraine, and they seem to be willing to let Putin gobble up that nation. They say opposing his aggression militarily would start a war -- possibly a world war. Isn't this just a modern version of appeasement?
The U.S. and NATO have applied some economic sanctions to Russia and are sending some weapons to Ukraine. The sanctions are meaningless. Putin is one of the richest men in the world, and if he were to lose 90% of his wealth, he would still be a very rich man. The sanctions will hurt the Russian people, but Putin doesn't care about them. He has an iron grip on power in that country, and if he can get the territory he wants, he's willing to let the Russian people suffer.
While the West is sending some weapons, they have refused to institute a no-fly zone because they think Putin would consider than an aggression. They also are refusing to allow Poland to send Soviet era jets to Ukraine (which Ukrainian pilots know how to use), for the same reason.
This is giving Putin the idea that NATO and the U.S. are weak and afraid of him. That will not stop him in Ukraine, and it will not keep him from attacking another country once successful there. Tyrants don't respect appeasement. It just makes them bolder. The only thing they respect is strength.
I'm not suggesting that NATO and the U.S. invade Russia. That would be dumb (and wrong). But they should at least institute a no-fly zone over Ukraine -- and let Ukraine have the Soviet era MIG's.
Would Putin use nuclear weapons as he has threatened? NO! He knows that doing so would mean an instant reprisal from the United States (and he would no longer have a country)!
The West must show Putin they are brave enough and strong enough to defend democracy -- in Ukraine and elsewhere. That is the only way to stop a new world war. Anything less is just another step down the road to that war. Appeasement does not work!
