Sudetenland and Crimea: How Different Are They

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I am a firm believer in history repeating itself and that what we learn from history is that we don’t learn our history.  And so we find ourselves in a Sudetenland flashback regarding the “crisis” in the Crimea.

Here’s a little background on the Sudetenland:

The borders of Germany and Austria were a bit willy-nilly in that after World War I, when the Germans were defeated and the Austrian and German Empires collapsed, some ethnic Germans ended up in other countries.  Witness the German territory in Poland (Danzig) that was separated from the mother country so as to give Poland sea access.  The other territory was the Sudetenland, which ended up in Czechoslovakia.

Adolf Hitler wanted to demonstrate his strength to a demoralized Germany, distract them from their economic hardships, and give the countries that put Germany down a poke in the eye as well as test their resolve and, perhaps, set them at odds with one another.

Hitler sent infiltrators into the Sudetenland to stir up trouble then he said there was a “crisis” and ethnic Germans were being persecuted and Germany had to come to their defense.

Sounds a lot like what’s been going on the in Crimea, doesn’t it?

Vladimir Putin is an authoritarian – like Adolf Hitler – however that is where most of the similarities end.  While the danger is not in Russia attempting to take over the world as Nazi Germany tried to do, the reason why this is of interest is because the same type of weakness and indecisiveness which helped Hitler to feel certain their would be no negative consequences to his actions also likely made Putin feel the same way.

In 2008, when George W. Bush was president, Putin invaded Georgia and what were the consequences?  A few sanctions and that’s about it.

In other words… there were no consequences.

In 2009, when Barrack H. Obama was president, he gave away the right to build SDI radar installations in Eastern Europe (Poland and the Czech Republic) which had been planned for years and were supports by those host nations at great political risk (indeed, the Czech government lost the elections when Obama withdrew his support).

Putin won that battle and gave up nothing in return.

Then military officials in the Russian Government warned America not to build similar installations in non-NATO countries (like George and the Ukraine).

There were – again – no consequences and Putin could likely smell the weakness.

Is it any wonder he knows he can get away with whatever he wants and nothing will happen?

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