America's new ally
One of the most shocking and humiliating examples of capitulation and appeasement in American and World history since Neville Chamberlain, was recently on display in our beloved White House by the Trump Administration.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has allied Western Europe and the US since the end of World War II. It ensures the safety of our allies and stops the spread of Russian aggression. It's important to understand recent history.
Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, primarily for its agricultural and natural resources. Putin has tried to coerce Ukraine for years to join Russia through a combination of propaganda, assassinations, spies and Donald Trump’s advisors Paul Manafort and Rudy Guliani.
The cost in human lives, resources and energy sources has been extraordinary. Despite Russian interference, Ukraine has elected and maintained pro-democratic government. Their elected leader is Volodymyr Zelenskyy and determined to decide their future, and not be under the oppressive regime of Vladimir Putin. The United States has supported them until Donald Trump.
President Trump has decided that the United States should support Vladimir Putin and Russia, not democratic Ukraine. Why? When Zelenskyy came to America to complete a peace agreement that included enormous concessions to the United States to get our help, Trump and Vance led an embarrassing spectacle to berate Zelenskyy on national television.
Such behavior by our leaders made patriotic Americans cringe. Winston Churchill and FDR would roll in their graves.
Let me simplify who Americans are now allied because of this obscene behavior. The International Criminal Court has indicted our new ally, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, for committing heinous war crimes in Ukraine, aside from murdering and imprisoning personal enemies, his troops have attacked hospitals, medical facilities and energy grids.
Putin’s troops have molested Ukrainian women and kidnapped about 200,000 children, forcing them to Russia’s eastern provinces. Children are told their parents are dead, that they are now Russian citizens, and their country is no more. The Russian invasion has injured approximately one million Ukrainians, men, women and children. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Putin for these war crimes.
In 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain offered the enemy aggressor, Adolf Hitler’s Germany, part of Czechoslovakia, for Hitler’s promise of peace. Hitler, assuming the weakness of the British allies, continued to invade Western Europe. World War II, the Battle of Britain, the invasion of Western Europe, and millions of deaths, including over 600,000 Americans resulted from Chamberlain’s appeasement. The inability to learn the lessons from WWII and the arrogance, naivete, and callous disregard for human life, nearly destroyed Britain and Europe. The Trump Administration is repeating history. And threatening America today.
David R James, MA, PhD, History
Lincoln County High School, Eureka, Montana