Boyhood dream realized
Some leaders make history. Others have it thrust upon them when they fail to understand the moment. Donald Trump’s announcement that he has opened bilateral negotiations with Vladimir Putin over the future of Ukraine, which Putin invaded and where his armies have been accused of committing war crimes, is one such “moment”.
Keir Starmer must now decide whether he has what it takes to lead the country – or go down in history as an appeasement prime minister like Neville Chamberlain.
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Chamberlain’s Munich Agreement traded a large chunk of Czechoslovakia for a commitment from Hitler that Germany’s imperial ambitions would end with the absorption of 3 million Czech citizens from the Sudetenland into the Reich. In 1938, the British prime minister was hoodwinked into believing that was a solemn written commitment from the fuhrer.
But Trump hasn’t been suckered by Putin. Trump is an enthusiastic collaborator with the Kremlin. Moments before he announced, on social media, that he had opened talks with Putin over the future of Ukraine, he acceded to most of Putin’s much-telegraphed demands.
In Brussels, Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defence, said that Ukraine should give up on ever getting all of its territory back. He said that the US would never send troops there – not even as part of a peacekeeping mission – and that Ukraine can forget about joining Nato.
It’s worth repeating: those are all Putin’s demands. Ukraine will merely be kept informed, while Putin – the former head of the KGB – works out what to do with Ukraine in talks with a US president who is behaving as though he is an actual KGB agent.
After a Russian invasion of a European country, no KGB officer could have dreamt of sitting opposite a US president who had already threatened to colonise Nato-member Canada, or invade Greenland, which is part of Nato-member Denmark.
But here we are.
And one of the most shocking aspects of the Munich agreement was that the Czechs were excluded from the negotiations. Their security and national integrity were bargained away, and they were blackmailed into accepting it. Britain and France declared that Czechoslovakia would receive no military support from them if they didn’t accept the terms.
And when the Germans occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia just five months later, guess who did nothing?
Yes well what business is it of theirs??? /s
Well maybe that’s where the US gets its revitalization… When we have to liberate Europe again in a couple decades. Meanwhile we disintegrate into a fascimile of the Soviet Union, complete with shit living conditions and a surveillance state. All because both political parties fell on their faces.
John, no different to Palestine. UK, USA. USSR, France, and Jewish terrorists consulted. Palestinians left right out.
As to Chamberlain, Britain was in no position to tackle Germany, Chamberlain bought time, but even that was not enough. See Dunkirk
@Rev – we can fight the Munich agreement forever, but Czechoslovakia was well armed with one of the best armaments industry in Europe, and would have put up a good fight with allies. Losing Czechoslovakia meant losing those armaments.