Trump appeases Putin
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To the editor:
In 1905, Philosopher George Santayana said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Appeasement in the 1930’s, a brief history lesson in 1938, after seizing the Rhineland in 1936 and gobbling up Austria in 1938, Adolph Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia give him the Sudetenland, a western border region inhabited by ethnic Germans. This mountainous region served as a defensive border for the Czech state and contained the Skoda works, a major arms manufacturing plant. He threatened war if his demands were not met.
In September of 1938, a conference was held in Munich, Germany–Hitler and Mussolini met with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edouard Daladier. The British and French caved into Hitler’s demands and the Sudetenland was turned over to Hitler in return for his vague promise not to take the rest of Czechoslovakia and for his assurance that he would make no more territorial demands in Europe.
Chamberlain returned to Britain with the Munich Agreement in hand saying it brought “peace in our time.” Six months later, Hitler tore up the Munich Agreement, invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia and turned his attention to Poland.
Appeasement 2025, a phone call to Putin from Trump saying Ukraine’s NATO membership is “impractical” and the return of Russian-occupied territories to Kyiv is “illusionary” the Trump administration is giving its blessing to key items on Putin’s wish list. The Russian media was quick to praise Trump’s phone call as an end to the “west’s blockade.”
The effect on the Russian economy which had been struggling under U.S. economic pressure was immediate–a 5% rise in the stock market and the Russian ruble gained strength against the American dollar.
Russia has long resented America’s preeminent role in Europe. A 2007 Putin speech demanded the rollback of American influence and a new balance of power in Europe more suitable to Moscow.
It appears as if the Trump administration might help him realize his dream. Trump described his phone call with Putin as “highly productive,” emphasizing their shared desire to halt the fighting without saying a word that it was Russia which started the war with an invasion of Ukraine.
Trump said he spoke to Zelensky but remained noncommittal about whether Ukraine would be an equal participant in the peace talks.
Historical note: Czechoslovakia was not a party to the Munich Conference. The sacrifice of Czechoslovakia did not bring “peace in our time.” In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, starting the second World War. *Note: Putin agrees that the 2020 election was stolen–an absolute must to gain Trump’s favor.
Mary Kathryn Gepner
Benton