You know, I'm reminded of some history ....
In 1935, the League of Nations imposed sanctions on Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia. Italy had a goal of combining the areas of influence in Africa into a single entity.
Haile Selassie, then the emperor of Ethiopia, addressed the League assembly, asking for military intervention. He ended his speech with a simple statement, "Today, it is us. Tomorrow, it will be you." The League of Nation refused military assistance to Ethiopia.
Of course, if we remember, Italy attacked British troops in Egypt in 1940 ... so, apparently, "tomorrow, it [was] you."
In 1939, Neville Chamberlain met with Adolph Hitler in Munich, Germany. In return for "peace in our time", Chamberlain agreed to allow Germany to annex half of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia did not have input into the decision. Chamberlain assured all who would listen that this agreement would ensured that World War II had been averted, and we would have world "peace in our time."
Of course, as we now know, it slowed the German advance .... for whole 8 days. Eight days later, Germany invaded Poland, and WWII was on.
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So, I wonder ... what is different today? Are our tyrants smarter? Do they now know they can't win? Why should we, today, expect Putin to stop? Did he learn from history?
Or ... did we NOT learn that appeasement never works?