As far as Britian is concerned, oh Yes, oh Yes.
Why do we not learn from history? Most of us Brits can see what is happening, and those of us who were interested enough to learn about Munich 1938 and World War 2 are all horrified at the resemblance then, to present day events.
Appease a tyrannical killer and war-maker, as the hapless British prime minister Neville Chamberlain did in 1938, effectively giving areas of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, and you create a situation where the criminal is given the go-ahead to do to exactly what they want. In Hitler’s case, invade Poland. It caused a world war which lasted years and killed millions.
That’s exactly what I expect to happen in 2025 or soon after. That idiot Trump has essentially told Putin he can take whatever he wants from Ukraine, with no punishment whatsoever, (however they may “dress” this up). Trump is appeasing Putin, the Hitler of the 21st century, and there will then be nothing to stop Putin invading Poland, or indeed any of the Baltic countries. They happen to be NATO members, so whether Britain likes it or not, we will then be at war with Russia. Which we will lose, and I’ll tell you why.
Britain’s army is severely depleted in both numbers of men and the amount of weapons at its disposal, thanks to successive governments being as blinkered as Chamberlain, and assuming we will never need to be able to defend ourselves, let alone fight on the continent.
Ditto the good old Royal Air Force. We would lose most of our few fighters after just a few days of battle.
And don’t get me started on our once proud navy. Believe me when I tell you we have no currently functioning aircraft carriers, we have just eight frigates, and we don’t even build our own naval vessels anymore! I know, you simply couldn’t make this up.
But all of this is happening, and it’s happening for real, and it’s happening right now. Britain and the rest of Europe are, at this time, completely unprepared and unready for war. Just like in 1938. History books will tell you exactly what ensued next.
Is it 1938 again?
After Donald Trump told Volodymyr Zelenskyy to leave the White House, there was much noise in most of the Western media about the poor but brave Ukraine President. Well, I think he could have behaved less emotional as Ukraine is 100% dependent on American weapons and surveillance support. He shouldn’t have demanded from Trump unconditional security guaranties as no US obligation was ever put on paper anyway. It was mostly Zelenskyy, though JD Vance and Trump also played their part, who started fighting during the talks – and made the whole thing flammable, resulting in the sudden break-out.
After the Oval Office’s heated meeting last week, CNN and most of the liberal media declared that the United States – and Donald Trump personally – were selling Ukraine to Vladimir Putin. The voices of these media thundered, broadcasting a simple message: Trump is about to betray Ukraine because he is not about values, he’s got transactional thinking. So, he would be happy to trade Ukraine for profitable oil deals in the Arctic and beyond with Russia.
Let’s now turn to facts.
First, immediately after the last Friday’s broken talks, Donald Trump said on Zelenskyy: “He can come back when he is ready for peace.” Well, it doesn’t sound like the end of talks.
Second, responding to it, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “is most ready for peace.” Ukraine’s president approved sending his team to Saudi Arabia for more talks on the rare earths deal and, ultimately, a peace agreement. By the way, I admire Zelenskyy’s courage to stand up against Trump: he is a tough negotiator. Probably, Donald Trump may even appreciate his stance.
Trump responded to Russia’s massive attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this Thursday. “Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale banking sanctions and tariffs on Russia until FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED.”
You know what? To me, it doesn’t sound like the Munich Agreement. First, unlike Chamberlain and Daladier, Donald Trump is obviously not afraid of Putin. Second, he has resources to manage the process, like he put it his Truth Social post: “To Russia and Ukraine – get to the table until it’s too late.”
I think it was JD Vance who said that you can’t call Putin what he really is and then expect him getting to the table for talks. I think, to reach a peace agreement, you can’t blame just one side and expect a fruitful result. It doesn’t sound good, but it is what it is: real-world politics.
So, let’s follow actions, not words. Joe Biden was probably right about Putin on words, but he didn’t provide enough resources to defeat him on the battlefield. He was simply not brave enough to really press Putin and found himself deadlocked in a World War One type of war with countless casualties and no plan how to end the conflict.
Finally, there are serious reasons that can prevent the US and Russia striking a deal behind Ukraine’s back. The first reason is the unresolved issue of the $300 billion of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves frozen in the West, the interest income from which the EU transfers to Ukraine. As long as this freeze remains in place, the Kremlin will continue to hold Western companies’ funds in special accounts, and any new investments will be at risk of freezing or confiscation.
The second reason is a series of new laws that Russia has passed over the past three years against foreign businesses. For example, the division of countries into “friendly” and “unfriendly” ones implies different economic activity regimes for investors. Recently, Russian courted assets from the owners of Moscow’s Domodedovo airport and Raven Russia logistics centers because the owners had foreign passports. In 2022, ExxonMobil wrote off billions of dollars of losses related to investments in the Sakhalin-1 project. Until the sanctions are lifted, no Western comeback is expected.
You remember: Donald Trump said that he would imply more severe sanction on Russia if Putin doesn’t behave.
So, it doesn’t look like 1938. It looks like a harsh deal being cooked by Trump, with both sides forced to make compromises to reach a hard-fought peaceful agreement.
We will know soon if Trump’s strategy is working.
Is it 1938 again?
Do you ever wonder if people in the lead-up to World War Two had any idea what was coming? Was there a foreboding about the future? I have asked that question several times and I really do think the planet is heading towards some type of crash.
Then, as now, there was a divide in the US between totalitarian supporters and democracy supporters. Dictators had friends and influence in the US and it wasn’t at all clear how much influence the America First movement (yes, that’s what it was called) would have if there was real conflict in Europe. The American Nazi Party had strong support in high places; Charles Lindberg, for example.
Let me tell you a story: A group of christian nationalists, called the Christian Front, stockpiled weapons with the idea that they would overthrow the Government. Clearly democracy was not working and too many good Americans were forgotten. They wanted a strong leader. Ultimately, they were arrested by the FBI and put into jail. Does the charge “Seditious Conspiracy” ring any bells? It gets better: They got off. They were seen as home-town heroes. Is it 1938 again? I strongly recommend you take a short eight minutes and watch this story from CBS Sunday Morning.
Today, Hitler is out of fashion but don’t think for one second that he’s out of favor; I have heard several times that Trump owns an autographed “Mein Kampf”. That seems possible, he knows so little about the world but seems to know a great deal about the Nazis. Trump once told an American four star general that he wishes he had Hitler’s generals instead. They could follow orders. Three high profile Trump supporters have even given Nazi salutes at the end of major speeches recently. Jewish Space Lasers indeed.
Of course, the current leadership cannot become open supporters of the Nazi platform and they know it. Buy they can get damn close. They can pull the US out of Europe (including NATO), put those greasy little brown children in cages, and rescue Putin. The current leadership of the US Government is making excellent progress on all three fronts.
I want to close on a bit of a positive note. If you’re not from the US, much of what I’m saying may sound shocking. Nah, we have been here many times before. The history lesson is well outside this article but these same people have always been with us. Even during the America Revolution these same groups supported His Majesty and not the rebels. Would the rural, Southern States join the Revolution? The answer looked like it was no.
If you don’t know much about American politics, you may also be relieved to know that an entire series of conservative town hall meetings have gone badly for Republican Congressmen lately. Ironically the old, white men have been booed and badly treated by MAGAs. It’s gotten so ugly that the Party has advised conservative congressmen not to do in person town halls for a while. The mid-term elections seem far, far away but I would bet a reconning will take place long before then. Republican Congressmen will be forced, against their will, to put the brakes on Musk and Trump.