“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. It seems still more impossible that a quarrel which has already been settled in principle should be the subject of war.”
— Chamberlain Broadcast (27 September 1938),
“I am sure that some day the Czechs will see that what we did was to save them for a happier future. And I sincerely believe that what we have at last opened the way to that general appeasement which alone can save the world from chaos.”
— Chamberlain letter to Archbishop of Canterbury after Munich (2 October 1938)
“Yesterday afternoon the President of the Czecho-Slovak Republic and the Foreign Minister…had an interview with Herr Hitler and Herr von Ribbentrop, at the conclusion of which (T)he Czecho-Slovak President declared that, in order to (preserve the peace in Central Europe) and in order to secure final pacification, he placed the destinies of the Czech people and country with confidence in the hands of the German Reich. The occupation of Bohemia by German military forces began at 6 o’clock this morning.”
– Chamberlain speech in Commons, March 15, 1939
“Everything that I have worked for, everything that I have hoped for, everything that I have believed in during my public life, has crashed into ruins. There is only one thing left for me to do; that is, to devote what strength and powers I have to forwarding the victory of the cause for which we have to sacrifice so much.”
– Chamberlain speech announcing war with Germany, September 3, 1939.
Thus the last eighteen months before the most destructive war humans have managed to wage to date. Did we learn anything from that catastrophe?
Apparently not. As Russia’s Vlad the Terrible continues to build up military forces on the borders of Ukraine, the West continues to dither. In his disastrous press conference of January 19, our stumbletounged president essentially told his bullyboy buddy in Moscow “Oh, sure, go ahead. Nobody here’s gonna get bent out of shape over your using force to change governments and borders in Europe. Again.”
After the ten-alarm panic-stations cleanup-on-aisle-five quackfest that followed the only thing people were still speculating about was when – not if. And what to do about it, of course.
At the moment, the answer is, “Not much.” The British government may want to take some action – they remember better than most what happens when tyrants are appeased – but their Prime Minister has serious political problems of his own to resolve first. The Germans are inert, paralyzed both by their laws and their appetite for the Russian natural gas now coming their way, courtesy of Joe Biden’s removal of sanctions on the NordStream 2 project. Other NATO allies are acting a bit rudderless and no one seems willing to stand up and say “follow me.”
So once again the world will receive a object lesson in what happens when tyrants have an easy time getting their way.
Here’s a tip for the clueless folks nattering on about “strict sanctions” and “damage to Russia’s economy” and other such twaddle. None of it will work. It didn’t work when Tsar Vladimir I gobbled up part of Georgia, using the same “protecting local Russian populations” swindle he’s now venting. Or when he seized the Crimea under the same false pretenses. Or the Donetsk industrial region using false flag tactics. And it won’t work now. In fact – for those who may not have noticed – Putin secured his economic flank last week with the “unlimited agreement” he struck with China. He can now thumb his nose at economic threats. He has a new friend.
Speaking of which, Chairman Xi must be salivating as he considers the best moment to seize Taiwan. Probably late in February, after the Olympics have wound down and the Russian assault gets under way in the West. As all eyes and forces are drawn to Europe, it would be a golden moment for Vlad’s new partner in tyranny to crush the embarrassment of a prosperous Chinese semi-state just offshore. Among other things, such a “victory” will distract from such inconveniences as China’s faltering economic situation.
Finally, to those, and they are many, who argue, echoing Chamberlain, that we should be on the brink of a crisis because of “…people of whom we know nothing” and, as we are often reminded, aren’t even members of NATO. Which is a valid point if one thinks that a dictator with a powerful military at his back will settle for just a bit of the pie. None ever has. So after Ukraine is “saved for a happier future” and returned to the horror that is “Greater Russia,” what will we say when Vlad the Terrible’s eye falls on the Baltic republics and their populations of Russians to “protect?” Remember, Russia’s Kaliningrad Enclave borders Lithuania and Poland, both NATO states.
Best Vlad be faced by the certainty of severe and effective measures on all fronts – economic, political and yes, military – as he calculates the risks and rewards of an invasion of the Ukraine. Only that has a reasonable possibility of stopping him where he is, instead of at Bialystok, Przemsyl, Dorohoi and Tulcea.
Or we can re-learn Neville Chamberlain’s painful lesson all over again.
