Putin’s outrageous, illegal, and murderous invasion of Ukraine is an instant replay of how WWII started resulting in the death of 65 million people. When Germany lost WWI, they signed the Treaty of Versailles which made them promise not to have an army of more than 100,000 soldiers and not to have an air force. That was done to insure that they could not start another war. On top of that, Germany gave up “The Rhineland” to France, made the Sudetenland part of Czechoslovakia, made Austria an independent country, and insured Poland’s freedom and independence. Just like the promises that Russia made when it lost the “Cold War” to Ronald Reagan! Then Hitler started breaking every part of the Versailles Treaty and Europe and America let him do that out of cowardice and greed. They did not want to spend the money to stop Hitler which they could have easily done when he had such a small army. Sadly, Hitler recreated a massive military stronger than all of Europe and started WWII with his invasions of the “Rhineland”, Sudetenland, and Austria and the Allies did nothing about that until Hitler finally invaded Poland which did start WWII and killed 65 million people.
Vladimir Putin is sadly following Hitler’s strategy and once again Europe and America are allowing him to do so. Just like the promises that Germany made in the Versailles Treaty, Russia made similar promises when it lost the “Cold War” to Ronald Reagan. Russia gave Ukraine, Moldavia, Lithuania, and other countries their independence from the USSR as part of the decline and fall of the USSR. Tragically, a few years ago Putin invaded Crimea and Georgia which the world let him do with no consequences and now he is invading Ukraine which is an act of war. While America and Europe are finally providing Ukraine defensive weapons, that is nowhere near enough to stop Putin whose military is probably 10 times larger than Ukraine’s. Putin has publicly told the world that his goal is to rebuild the USSR which would be a massive threat to world peace and is exactly what Hitler wanted to do. If Putin does that, he will put all of Europe at risk, especially Poland and all former members of the USSR which are now members of NATO. This is an exact replay of how WWII started only now the world’s war technology can kill hundreds of millions of people, not just 65 million.
There is only one solution to this disaster. “Peace through strength”. If the free world unites and helps Ukraine defeat Russia and builds an “Iron wall” around Russia to protect its neighbors while cutting off Russia from world trade, it can bankrupt Russia and put it out of business. China is watching and that could stop China from invading Taiwan. Or the world can repeat the Neville Chamberlain strategy of “Appeasement” which led to WWII and the death of 65 million people. It is the free world’s choice, not Putin’s.