Putin turning into Hitler

Remember the old adage, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it?” Am I the only one who sees an alarming rerun of Adolf Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland taking place in Crimea today? Russia is playing the part of Nazi Germany, and Vladimir Putin is deftly playing the part of Hitler. Putin’s political rhetoric is almost identical to the propaganda offered by Hitler: Protecting German (Russian) nationals living in a neighboring country.

I keep asking myself, what’s next? Finland? Poland? France? I expect to hear that lunatic Putin spouting something like “living room”; a Hitler standard for justifying the annexation of his neighbors.

History notes the West’s (non) reaction to Hitler’s aggression leading up to World War II. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s famous paper waving, foot-in-mouth moment in history, when he said, “Never to go to war again. … Peace in our time.”

This is a frightening time in Eastern Europe. I wish I knew how to stop Putin/Hitler’s aggression. Short of the insane prospect of military intervention by the West, what can be done?

I hope the sanctions being threatened now might bring Putin/Hitler to his senses. Assuming he has any senses to come to.

Terry Kolemaine

Spokane