Is Putin the Latest Hitler?

Putin has made no secret of his nostalgia for the old Soviet empire. Is Ukraine his Czechoslovakia? There are certain ominous parallels, even, if one wants to be melodramatic, between the Sochi and Munich Olympics. The justifications haven't changed either: intervention on behalf of one's fellow nationals and historic interests. The apologists in the West haven't changed their tunes much either.

Imperialistic aggression is an appetite that tends to grow in the eating. Georgia was just an appetiser.

Any good bully has 20/20 vision for weakness, and the West looks plenty weak. Three generations of Europeans have grown up thinking war is something that happens someplace else. Three generations of Americans have exhausted themselves fighting mostly pointless wars in Asia.

If it's Kiev today, where will Putin be stopped? I don't think Europe has much power to resist, and the US is busy making plans to drastically reduce its Army.

I wonder if Putin would have been so quick to invade if Obama had reacted forcefully and ruthlessly when his "red line" was crossed in Syria

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