HISTORY’S LESSONS

It is said that those who refuse to learn history’s lessons are doomed to repeat it’s mistakes. On March 9th, 1938, Adolph Hitler coerced Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to hold a plebiscite to determine the future of the “German-speaking” people of Austria. The result was never in doubt, and by March 12th, German troops marched into Austria, which became part of the Third Reich.

A few days ago, a similar vote was taken in Crimea, and like the Austrian vote the quarters of a century ago, it was never in doubt. Crimea now is part of the Russian Federation. Will Putin march his 20,000 troops massed on the border, into Ukraine and take it as well? Hitler had no respect for the political will of Europe, and America was in one of its isolationist periods that are inevitably followed by war. Had Europe stood up to Hitler after Austria, there might not have been a second world war or a holocaust.

Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB chief, is a Cold War Relic who understands only one language – power. Russia is strong, but it is economically fragile and its military is nowhere near that of NATO. The answer for President Obama is simple to find, but hard to execute. Two things must be done, and done simultaneously. First, the missile shield that Putin objected to being placed into Eastern Europe should be approved and the infrastructure begun. That announcement, in and of itself could be sufficient to keep Putin’s adventurism in check for a while, but not indefinitely.

The second mandate is to invite Ukraine into NATO; which needs to be done immediately. With Ukraine part of the mutual defense treaty, and NATO troops massed on Ukraine’s western border, the message would be unmistakable; we’ve learned history’s lesson. Any invasion of Ukraine, on any pretext, would bring Russian troops into contact with NATO technology, at least, if not NATO troops. Russia and its leaders are getting rich from its gas and foreign investments (not to mention bribes). These are two things, simple announcements at the beginning, that would cost little, solidify NATO, add to the prestige, credibility and fear of the US military-industrial complex, and just might prevent World War III. Like Germany’s impending invasion of Poland in 1939, however, time is running out for us to take effective action. Once the tipping point is reached, we will end in the global conflict we’ve been avoiding since 1945.