To My Republican Friends and Neighbors

Appeasement--The U.S. is repeating history that more than rhymes

Those of us of a certain age grew up in the aftermath of the devastation of the Second World War. In my youth I knew men, relatives, neighbors, fathers of classmates who fought in Europe against the Nazis, men who had experienced unspeakable horrors, horrors that would sometimes pour out of them late at night, usually under the influence of alcohol. Even so, my high school history class never made it to World War II. It ran out of time. Growing up in the era I did, perhaps it was assumed that the story of the lead-up to the Second War simply permeated us—and it did.

At the time, kids like me understood from their parents that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s (the PM who preceded Winston Churchill) policy of appeasement of Adolph Hitler’s to annex Czechoslovakia in 1938 encouraged Hitler and offered an opening that led to the horrors of World War II. I highly recommend reading Yale Professor of Eastern European History Timothy Snyder’s Substack post, “Appeasement at Munich, World Wars, Past and Possible” from February 14th for much more detail. (Note: Dr. Snyder does not mention the name Chamberlain, only Britain which was then under Chamberlain’s leadership.)

As negotiators from Russia and the United States met in Munich yesterday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine the parallels with 1938 are both striking and sickening. Ukraine now, like Czechoslovakia then, is not part of the negotiations. To the surprise of many, Ukrainians have withstood Vladimir Putin’s bloody invasion of their territory for three years, with help in the form of materiel from the U.S. and the European Union. Although both Czechoslovakia in 1938 and Ukraine now were democratic states, both are/were treated as voiceless pawns in a negotiation that did/will likely determine their fates. Now Trump/Musk appear bent on selling out the Ukrainian people to Putin’s Russia, a sell-out that pretends, like Chamberlain’s ill-fated appeasement, to seek peace from a dictator, who nonetheless has made his further goals of territorial expansion well known. We are already on our way to being branded an untrustworthy ally in the world community, to say nothing of where this could all lead.

I know we Americans, Democrats and Republican alike, have a hard time focusing on anything beyond our own borders, particularly with all that is currently happening at home, but is this sudden betrayal of an ally what Americans wish to be known for in the world community? Is this something that my Republican friends and neighbors saw coming and voted for? If so, the rest of us should weep for our country and for the Ukrainians—and cringe over the future of the world.

Call your Congresspeople.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. As I contemplate our communal loss of memory around WWII, I am reminded of Steve Bannon’s favorite book, “The Fourth Turning” by William Strauss and Neil Howe. The overarching thesis of the book (at least as I read it) is that as the generation that experienced the last cataclysmic event dies off, generational memory is lost and we are condemned to face another cataclysmic upheaval thanks to our ignorance. It seems that part of Bannon’s enthusiasm for Mr. Trump is spurred on by his conviction that now is the time for a paradigm shift.