Bad history


I saw a blog post this morning comparing the situation in Ukraine to the situation in Europe after Nazi Germany annexed Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain has been a popular whipping boy of history and his "peace in our time" Munich accord with Hitler is regularly flogged by those seeking a military confrontation. I don't see any simple way out in Ukraine, but I do know bad history when I see it. For example:
• Russia is a thermonuclear power. Any military confrontation with Russia risks destroying human civilization on the planet within minutes. Nazi Germany never, at any point, had thermonuclear warheads.
• Had the allies confronted Hitler militarily over Czechoslovakia, Hitler would have lost. If NATO were to confront Russia militarily, everyone would lose.
• Lebensraum was a major foreign policy goal of Nazi Germany. Russia already has way more space than it can use, and annexation of Ukraine won’t significantly change that.
• Nazi Germany sought military control of all of western, central and eastern Europe. There is no evidence or reason to believe that Russia aspires to this goal.
Historical analogies are tricky things. Glib comparisons to Hitler and Nazi Germany are common and almost always wrong.
A better understanding of what is going on now in Ukraine can probably be found by learning about the Russification of Ukraine under Stalin. Many Ukrainians, especially in the east, are ethnic Russians and identify with Russia. Add to that, some Ukrainians in WWII collaborated with Germany as the lesser of two evils compared to Stalin, and Russia has never forgiven this.

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