So Pope Francis recently gave an interview where he called upon Ukraine to have the "bravery" to wave the white flag. I wonder if he would have also cheered on Nazi Germany as it steamrolled across Europe 75 years ago?
Let's look at the parallels:
In the aftermath of World War 1, the victorious allies formed the League of Nations in 1920 to prevent armed conflict through collective security, military, and naval disarmament, as well as settling international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration (sound familiar?)
The idea was to build a new world order based around peaceful settlement of differences, and an end to the imperialism that had dominated the world prior (sound familiar?)
Of course, not all nations were on-board with this new anti-imperialist agenda, notably Germany, Russia, Japan, and Italy.
After the German army entered and annexed Austria in 1938, the West remained largely silent. Encouraged by their inaction, Hitler began threatening Czechoslovakia, claiming that they were oppressing the German speakers in the Sudetenland (sound familiar?) and that he would be "forced" to invade in order to save them. The UK and France entered the Munich Agreement with Germany, ceding Czechoslovak territory - against their wishes - in order to avoid war.
For modern parallels, see the Minsk agreements of 2014, whereby the West pushed Ukraine into ceding territory to Russia in exchange for security guarantees (which Russia then promptly violated).
Of course, appeasing an imperialist merely encourages them, and predictably Germany demanded even more territory from Czechoslovakia - resulting in the First Vienna Award that gave it to Hungary. In 1939, Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in violation of the Munich Agreement and then issued an ultimatum to Lithuania, demanding territory.
With Germany now about to start openly threatening Poland, the UK and France pledged their support for Polish independence (later extended to support Greece and Romania).
Meanwhile, Germany and Russia formed the Molotov-Ribbentov pact, in which they secretly carved up Europe to share between themselves after conquest.
Hitler then accused the UK and Poland of attempting to "encircle" Germany (just like Russia accuses the West of attempting to encircle them) and renounced its non-aggression agreements with both countries. When Germany invaded Poland, many Western countries declared war on Germany, but in fact did nothing (this is known as the Phoney War). Unwilling to commit actual troops, Western support was limited to weapons and words (sound familiar?).
After signing a ceasefire agreement with Japan, Russia invaded Poland as well (as per the Molotov-Ribbentop pact). Germany annexed western Poland and Russia annexed eastern Poland. And the West did nothing.
The USSR then began threatening Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, forcing them to sign pacts to allow Soviet military bases in their countries. Then, the USSR invaded Finland. Shortly after, Germany imposed the Second Vienna Award, which carved up Romania (and again, their allies in the west did nothing but talk, despite their guarantees to preserve Romanian independence).
Encouraged by Western inaction, in 1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. And then France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. And then the real killing began.
Finally, Neville Chamberlain resigned (good riddance to the coward) and was replaced by Winston Churchill, who knew how to deal with a bully.
What these "peace cowards" don't understand is that you can't negotiate with a bully. A bully only understands force; in their eyes, talk is the tool of the weak, and rewards only go to the men of action. The West tried again and again to talk their way out of it, ceding territory, turning a blind eye to countries that flagrantly flouted the world order, all in the name of "saving lives". After the dust had settled, what could have been stopped at a cost of a few hundred thousand dead ballooned into 60 MILLION dead and 5 years of misery.
If you're wondering why everything's going to shit in 2023-2024 with Yemen, Israel, Iran, North Korea and China, it's because they all can sense this Western weakness and are taking full advantage.
The Poles, of course, remember what Russia and Germany did to them, and their "allies" that abandoned them. That's why Poland recently upped their military spending to 4% and will bring it even higher in the next few years. They know from experience that they can't count on their allies, and that NATO is likely a paper-only treaty. And so does Putin.
You think NATO will keep you safe? Guess again.
So whenever I see Western "leaders" talking about how they're "saving lives" in the name of peace, I can but give a hollow laugh. World War 3 could have been prevented last year, but no longer. We're about to see destruction and misery the likes of which the world has never seen.
And it's all our own damn fault. Again.
