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Shades of Munich?
Trump-Putin Talks Over Ukraine War Bear Historical Similarity to Infamous Hitler Conference
In September 1938, leaders of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, France, and Great Britain met in Munich, Germany, to discuss the fate of the Sudetenland, a ring of land in western Czechoslovakia. Adolf Hitler wanted to annex the Sudetenland to Germany. He reasoned that ethnic Germans there wanted to be part of Germany. Of course, grabbing the Sudetenland was just part of Hitler’s plan of European conquest.
Notably absent from the Munich Conference were any representatives from Czechoslovakia.
Is a new Munich Conference playing out over the Russia-Ukraine War? Perhaps. Initial reports seem historically familiar.
The Guardian reports U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke alone on February 12 about the war in Ukraine. The newspaper quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying, “There will be a bilateral Russian-American track of this dialogue, and a track that will be related to Ukraine’s involvement.”
No mention of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or any other Ukraine representatives in the talks. Zelenskyy has said Ukraine would not accept “any agreements [made] without us.” Other European leaders have argued against imposing…
