Shadows of Munich

In 1938, a group of diplomats and leaders met in Munich, Germany.  The occasion was Adolf Hitler’s claim on the western part of Czechoslovakia – the Sudetenland.  Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom were represented.  The Czechs were not there; a group forced to watch in the background as their country was torn apart for the sake of peace.  The Americans were there, unofficially in the form of U.S. ambassador Joseph Kennedy, and quietly went along with the agreement.  That pact would eventually give way to the wisdom that appeasement only makes the aggressor stronger.  Against this axiom, the European powers and the U.S. made the ravenous Russian beast stronger and the implications could be quite dire. 

Since the showdown in the Crimea, events that smack of the demands for breathing room by the Nazi government, the Russians have grown increasingly aggressive towards its former state.  Russia has also tacitly approved of the actions of pro-Russian mobs who, throughout eastern Ukraine, have been pushing buttons, pushing around Ukrainian authorities and generally increasing tensions throughout the region.  The Europeans and the Americans have been content with sanctions in hopes that Mr. Putin will realize the folly of his ambitions.  However, the Russian president has been making threats of his own in the form of the gas supply to the Europeans.  If European leadership and President Obama cannot think beyond sanctions, I fear history might repeat itself.  

In the last couple of days and after weeks of pro-Russian gangs running rough-shod over the Ukrainian civil government, the Ukrainian forces struck back in Slovyansk, in the eastern part of the country.  This follows attempts by the government to mollify pro-Russian protestors with the promise of more autonomy.  However, as the mobs’ takeover increased and solidified, special forces were employed to eject the protestors from government and police buildings as well as destroy barricades and checkpoints.  The Ukrainian government has been placed in a winless scenario as pro-Russian forces within the country have created havoc and Russian forces along the border have orchestrated more threats and pressures.  

This past weekend, Sen. John McCain lambasted the president for an increasingly weak and irrelevant international voice, suggesting that sanctions are not enough.  He further suggested that what the president and the Europeans need to do is supply intelligence and weapons to the embattled government.  However, that is not happening.  President Obama has no intention to place troops on the ground as there is little to no support for such a measure in the U.S. but one must wonder why the president has seldom discussed this situation at length.  As the Democrats prepare for the 2014 mid-term elections and the party seeks to salvage those Democrats, especially in the Senate, whose re-election efforts are jeopardized, the attention seems to have drifted away from international concerns.

As an historian, I do not make references to the Nazis and Germany’s pre-World War II behavior lightly.  It is too often referred to and often, incorrectly.  However, given the level of inaction and lack of measures taken by the western powers, it does make one wonder how this farce will eventually play out.  The president has often suggested his uneasiness with the notion of the U.S. as a superpower and the authority and force that comes along.  However, it is countries like the U.S., along with the European powers, which share a responsibility.  Teddy Roosevelt said it was of little use arguing that we hold an international presence but what was most important, is what we did with the duty.  I fear we are ignoring those obligations and the Ukraine will be only the first victim.