As we watch a democratic European country be attacked and invaded by an authoritarian neighbour, one could be forgiven for thinking that it is 1939, not 2022. Putin’s game is straight out of Hitler’s playbook. Hitler began by occupying the Rhineland in 1936, before invading the Sudetenland (part of Czechoslovakia) in 1938, and the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Putin began by invading parts of Georgia in 2008, taking Crimea in 2014, and has now launched a full invasion of the rest of Ukraine. The similarities are striking.
Whilst Hitler was beginning his mad rampage across Europe – when he still could have been stopped – Western leaders in Great Britain, France, and America responded with verbal reprimands but little action. Unsurprisingly, simply telling Hitler to stop invading other countries without taking any firm action did not prevent further invasions. Six months later the Second World War was underway after Hitler invaded Poland and Great Britain and France finally realised that words alone are not enough to stop an insane dictator because you cannot reason with an unreasonable person.
If we look at the way our Western leaders are responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with harsh words and little action, it shows that we have not learnt from the mistakes of the past. Western leaders remain reluctant to fully cut-off Russia through sanctions, preferring to use ‘incremental’ sanctions, despite the fact that Russia is not ‘incrementally’ invading Ukraine – a full invasion is underway. One would have thought that the ‘incremental’ invasion of Ukraine and Georgia over the past 14 years would have been sufficient to justify full sanctions. Instead, our Western leaders continue to use words instead of actions, which is how we all ended up in this situation in the first place.
Whilst not for one moment wishing to promote war, I am arguing that a bully will grow both more powerful and more brazen if he is not stood up to. The time for words is over. Innocent lives are being lost, communities destroyed, and an entire nation attacked. Asking or telling Putin to stop invading Ukraine is futile. It is now time for action – we need to stand up to the bully, not only because we have a moral obligation to our Ukrainian friends, but because Putin, like Hitler, will not stop at Ukraine. The other insane dictators of the world are watching with interest how we react to this violation of the global rule of law, and will act accordingly.
This piece was originally published in the Cape Breton Post on 28 February 2022.
