Everything old is new again

I spent three years earning a degree in War in the Modern World, but it looks as if Vladimir Putin has made that skill set obsolete.

 Mr. Putin is not a modern man. He’s working straight out of Adolf Hitler’s playbook of 1938-39. Our fellow Germans (Russians) are being mistreated by cruel governments in Prague and Warsaw (Kiev)! The unrest is all your fault! Resist, and “serious consequences” will follow! Even the tricks with uniforms are similar (dressing dead men in German uniforms, in 1939; taking national insignia off Russian troops, in 2014).

And the west, traumatized by the last great war, sits on its hands. In 1939, the British and French astonished Hitler by honoring their pledges to Poland and declaring war. What are the chances of Cameron, Hollande, Merkel, and Obama doing that today on behalf of Ukraine? On behalf of Lithuania?

On behalf of Poland?

The Polish foreign minister is under fire for saying the obvious: "This Polish-American union is worthless.” But of course it's worthless! The United States is the country that showed its support for Ukraine by sending--meals ready to eat! And those were delivered by civilian contractors, for fear that the sight of military aircraft flying into Kiev might upset Mr. Putin.