Those who ignore history are doomed to fail and repeat - Trump and Neville Chamberlain

An echo essay published in The Brunswick News, in Georgia:

September 30, 1938

Hitler made inflammatory speeches demanding that Germans in Czechoslovakia be reunited with their homeland, war seemed imminent. Neither France nor Britain felt prepared to defend Czechoslovakia.

On Friday, Donald Trump and President Zelenskyy proved that diplomacy, like laws and sausages, should never be made in public. 

Similar negotiations between the leaders of the United States, Russia and Great Britain were difficult during World War II. Still, more reasoned minds conducted deliberations behind closed doors and then joined together with a unified message. As a result, they won WWII. The United States and Ukraine should do the same.

Is President Zelenskyy right to push for a just and lasting peace, one defined by security guarantees? Yes. To do otherwise, to weakly engage with Vladimir Putin, would not bode well for Western Europe, the United States or Ukraine. This is not a case of holding on to the stereotypes of the Cold War. Any serious student should realize that the Russian people are people of vast contrasts and contradictions. However, the Ukrainian conflict is not one with the Russian people. It is the product of a three-year rape of a peaceful nation by one man, Vladimir Putin, who, as a former KGB Colonel, is an artifact of the Soviet era and desires to remain so.

In his book The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill described his predecessor Neville Chamberlain as “an upright, competent, well-meaning man,” while not ignoring the fact that he was also a leader sadly deceived by overconfidence, lacking both foresight and experience in diplomacy. Churchill’s analysis was well-founded, for Chamberlain was greatly responsible for the ill-fated Munich Agreement, which allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia, a betrayal of the first order. 

Chamberlain hoped this humiliating sacrifice inflicted on part of a country he did not lead would finally satisfy what Adolf Hitler referred to as his last major territorial demand, thereby avoiding a larger war. He was wrong, for Hitler quickly annexed the remainder of Czechoslovakia and then invaded Poland, continuing his conquest of Europe.

If President Zelenskyy or his successor is forced to sign an unfair agreement with Vladimir Putin — especially one without adequate security arrangements protecting Ukraine’s sovereignty — peace may be achieved, but at what price and for how long? 

President Zelenskyy has every right to be skeptical of Mr. Putin, who, like Adolf Hitler, has certainly demonstrated no evidence of peaceful behavior as Ukraine has previously signed several agreements with Russia that Moscow conveniently broke.

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan fully understood this dynamic and openly supported those who desired freedom over oppression. Reagan believed that peace should not be bought “by committing an immorality.” He understood that “every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement” and that appeasement ultimately “gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender.” Reagan would have embraced the approximately 800,000 Ukrainian military service members who have valiantly struggled against the Russian invaders rather than a brutal totalitarian autocrat, one who, unprovoked and in violation of international law, invaded a sovereign nation, causing the largest military and refugee crisis in Europe since WWII.

Ukraine isn’t Trump’s to give away, but it is certainly his to lose. Making false statements about the Ukrainian leader, such as being a “dictator without elections” and that Ukraine “should have never started the war,” certainly does not advance the process. It is my prayer that our president will remain strong, not by appeasement but by proceeding honorably in support of Ukraine. If not, the United States can no longer claim that it is the last best hope for freedom in the world, for we will have sacrificed our global standing by taking a knee before an international criminal and one of our country’s biggest adversaries.

Alex Atwood (BS, MA, JD, L.LM.) has served in many roles, including as a Marine officer, in the judiciary, three terms in the Georgia General Assembly, and as a state commissioner in the Kemp Administration. Mr. Atwood now writes and teaches in the School of Business and Public Management at the College of Coastal Georgia. He can be reached at: jatwood@ccga.edu. Mr. Atwood’s views are his own and may not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of College of Coastal Georgia, faculty or administrators.