People are thinking of the invasion of the Ukraine as comparing to Hitler's invasion of Poland. I think the more exact comparison is to Hitler's prior invasion of Czechoslovakia, where he blatantly broke the Munich agreement, and all the western powers finally recognized his naked imperialistic program. Thus they became determined to go to war to stop further aggression. Just as in the case of Czechoslovakia, there will not be direct military intervention now, but NATO now shows determination to go to war to defend its eastern members.

My posts are not college theses. They are forum posts. It's water cooler conversation, peppered with links. I clarified when it was apparent I caused confusion.

That's how conversations work.:)

See a contridiction? :cool:

I agree with you. I think we'd be in a very different world today if 9/1/39 had never happened. And in that way, Putin may have learned from Hitler's mistake. Even Europe can be pushed too hard. But this ain't it.

That does not console any Ukrainians inside or outside the country though. :( I think Putin calculated this very carefully.

Before HS. Re-read after retiring.

Putin is following Russia's long-term expansion policy, which the Soviets ignored, much to their chagrin, with the invasion of Afganistan.

Nope. I'd rather you not make this thread about me, though. I'm not paying you rent, no matter how hard you try.;)

I think this could be called an attempt at "re-expansion". It will be interesting at what they consider a stopping/pausing point. I suspect they will be "happy" with Ukraine, at least for the near to mid-term, depending on what kind of resolve Nato nations show.

Totally agree, with the Soviet Hungarian and Czech democracy suppression invasions added as a typical response to challenges to puppet authoritarianism.

There's no question that Trump admires authoritarians and despots of all stripes, from Hitler to Kim to Xi to Putin and that his beliefs, tactics and ideology greatly resemble the NSDAP in the early 1930's.

As for you being a Trump supporter, I'd call you more of a contrarian. As for Putin as strategist and tactician, I really haven't spoken to that. He is, however, a malign force in this world and is determined to undermine democracy and the West.