Historical mistakes repeated

Today, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. The outcome for that country is likely to be subjugation if not annexation. Putin, like Hitler 83 years ago, felt resentment over the outcome of a previous conflict. In this case, the Cold War. 

By 1991, the West was crowing victory. The USSR had disintegrated, with Russia losing territory, power and its sphere of influence. Following years of upheaval, Putin came to power in 2000, and set about rebuilding his country. His armed forces were modernised, and through the supply of gas, oil and many other commodities not to mention money laundering through oligarchs and London's financial institutions, was able to build up a formidable war chest. The writing was on the wall by 2008, with an incursion into Abchasia, then a region in Georgia. Even more so in 2014, with the annexation of the Crimea. Putin's always trying to see what he would get away with. He was let off too lightly. 

Russia has not changed since the Czars, not since Communism. Paranoid and mistrustful, resentful against perceived or real wrongs, the West did not recognise the warning signs. Like Chamberlain in 1938, they felt that war could be averted through negotiation, read appeasement. A sign of weakness in Putin's eye. However, when former Warsaw pact countries in eastern Europe turned their backs on Russia and joined the EU, as well as NATO, Russia felt threatened. It's reaction when Ukraine expressed a desire to join those blocks was telling. It was a strategic mistake from Western blocks, not to realise or anticipate Putin's reaction. As outlined above, the first warnings appeared as far back as 2008. Ukraine and Europe will pay the price. Let's hope the conflagration remains relatively restricted in scope.