Zelensky, Benes and Hacha: No Munich II. EU Must React!

Readers of this blog have certainly noted that the posts here generally have an historical context added to the subject being discussed. All contemporary events do not occur in a vacuum. Additionally, past events, related or unrelated, may have some similarity which may help us understand the involved issues better. Such is the current situation concerning  peace efforts in the Russia-Ukraine War. President Trump spoke today with Russian leader Putin  regarding that war. Presumably, President Trump negotiated for a cease-fire in that imperialist war. Ukraine was not a participant even though its vital interests were the subject matter.

With the collapse of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) at the end of December 1991, that nation’s constituent “republics” devolved into independent states. Russia came under the leadership of a former candidate member of the Communist Party politburo, Boris Yeltsin. Under his leadership, a kleptocracy achieved control of the previous state’s assets and corruption reached unimaginable levels. An ailing Yeltsin resigned as president but not before insuring that his hand picked candidate, a former Communist Party member and KGB officer named Vladimir Putin, would succeed him. Putin has been ruling Russia with absolute control since 1998. One of his primary goals is to “gather the lands”, that is, to expand the territory of Russia to resemble its pre-USSR collapse. He has engaged in war against Georgia and Ukraine, annexing territory in violation of the UN Charter and has simultaneously committed various war crimes with impunity; the UN and the useless International Criminal Court (ICC) have both been silent as crimes against humanity occur on a daily basis. The so-called ICC has lately been busy aiding Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. in a family feud with former President Rodrigo Duterte; Duterte’s daughter is currently serving as Vice President of the Philippines  The ICC is available for action against small nations and will readily intervene where it is not needed. The ICC will be discussed in greater detail in a future post.

It should be noted that the USSR and its predecessor Czarist empire promoted a policy of Russification of its territory. Ethnic Russians were encouraged to migrate to non-Russian lands in the empire to strengthen imperialist Russian claims to those lands. Putin is currently using the presence of ethnic Russians to “gather these lands” even if they are now independent

nations.  All of this is reminiscent of the behavior of Nazi Germany during the 1930s and its desire to “bring home to the Reich” all ethnic Germans. This reached its apogee at the infamous Munich Conference of September 1938, where Great Britain and France tried to appease the ravenous German dictator Adolf Hitler by crucifying democratic Czechoslovakia in the name of peace. The Munich conference was held after the Nazi dictator declared that his territorial claims against Czechoslovakia were his last demands in Europe, Britain and France rushed to appease the Nazis in an attempt to buy peace with someone else paying the price. As BritIsh Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared, the UK cannot go to war over a faraway country that Britain knows little about. Hitler’s colleague, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini  “suggested” a peace conference which the British  and French quickly agreed to.  Significantly, Czechoslovakia was not invited. Czech delegates  who were on the scene were kept in isolation in a local hotel and were not privy to the discussions. The conference ended in a great victory for Germany, which obtained all the territory it demanded. Significantly, the German speakers in the Sudetenland had never been German citizens; they had previously been citizens of Austria-Hungary. Chamberlain triumphantly waved a piece of paper in the rain as he alighted from his airplane in England declaring that he had obtained “peace in our time”. Czech President Eduard Benes  left Czechoslovakia in exile and German troops quickly occupied the Sudetenland. Chief Justice Emil Hacha assumed the Czechoslovak presidency.  Four months later, January 1939, Hitler summoned Hacha to Berchtesgaden where he was forced to sign a document declaring the Czech lands (Bohemia and Moravia) a German protectorate. Simultaneously, Slovakia, under German prodding, declared independence and the fascist Monsignor Josef Tiso became president. The Anglo French effort at appeasement to buy peace failed miserably.

The lesson of Munich is that appeasement doesn’t work and the sacrifice of a small country is immoral and ultimately lethal to the appeasers. Germany’s geopolitical position improved greatly. Poland was now surrounded on three sides and within several weeks, Germany made demands on Poland. German armament plants worked overtime as war planning moved into high gear. The British and French began armament efforts but they were too little and too late. With the connivance of their ideological enemy, the USSR, Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, less than a year after the conference to establish “peace in our time”. World War II had begun and would last for almost six years with tens of millions of deaths. Appeasement had failed. Truly, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

President Trump spoke today with Russian vozhd Putin and tried to negotiate an armistice.  Russia did not agree. It played the part of the wronged side and made unreasonable demands on Ukraine. Ukrainian plenipotentiaries were not present as the United States and Russia were the two negotiating parties. As appeasement failed in 1938, it will fail in 2025 as well. The Russians are very aware of history and are extremely experienced negotiators. Peace is not possible in this type of negotiations as the Russian bear fully understands the weakness of the appeasers. So what can be done? The European Union (EU) certainly recognizes that this is a European problem. They must unite in their support for Ukraine, not only diplomatically, but also by supplying advanced ordnance. Finally, and most importantly, they need to recognize that NATO is obsolete. Eighty years after the end of World War II this Russia-Ukraine conflict is neither North nor Atlantic. It’s time for American troops to come home and for Europe to defend itself. The European Defense Community  (EDC), discussed in a previous post, must be established and the EU must defend Ukraine with the understanding that there are no final territorial demands. The bear must be stopped at the Ukrainian border. Russia will, if not stopped there, put pressure on the Baltic States and Poland as it will seek to establish territorial contiguity with Kaliningrad oblast, currently non-contiguous with Russia . The hour is late but the EU still has time. A clear, firm response will make it clear to Putin that history will not repeat itself. Indeed, for the sake of the European continent, it cannot. History is calling on the EU to act.

Garry S. Sklar

Las Vegas, NV

March 18, 2025