Poland Redux

There are few Americans alive today who were around at the beginning of what came to be known as World War II and, among the generations born after, including members of the current college-educated, masters and PhD-holding generation, there are few who can tell you, when asked, what event started that war. Those with a smattering knowledge of history will point to Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, as the start of the war but few will remember that Russia (then the Soviet Union) tag-teamed with Germany at that time by launching its own companion invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939.

Germany’s pretext for the Polish invasion was that the Poles were persecuting ethnic Germans in Polish territory, and that Poland and its allies, Britain and France, were trying to encircle Germany.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Poland fell in 35 days as its allies, Britain and France, failed to intervene effectively. Germany and Russia carved up Poland, Germany taking over former German provinces lost after its defeat in World War I and Russia grabbing the Ukraine and other Eastern Polish provinces. For Hitler and Germany, Poland was the first step in Hitler’s march for the establishment of his intended world-dominating Third Reich. For Stalin and Russia, the aim was to conquer new territory and add it to Russia’s fold. Stalin was happy with the result, but Hitler, after consolidating his position and forces, went on to take over Western Europe and threaten Britain before the United States intervened. Eighty million deaths later, World War II ended.

The situation in Ukraine is history repeating itself. There is no reason to believe that Putin’s appetite for empire will stop at Ukraine and its border with Poland. The French have a phrase that, translated into English, says “The more he eats, the hungrier he gets.” Unless sternly rebuffed by the West and, most importantly, by the United States, Russia’s takeover of Ukraine will inevitably lead to intimidation and pressure on the former Russian satellite countries—Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, and even Poland—to abandon freedom and the West and once again cleave to Mother Russia. That reason alone should be enough to spark the United States to do all required, not only economically but militarily as well, stop Russia in its tank tracks. But there’s more.

Chinese President Xi is no doubt watching the American response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia is getting more cozy with China all the time and weakness by the US toward Russia will only encourage the Chinese to play the same cards against Taiwan which, like Russia toward Ukraine, China still considers to be Chinese territory. An emboldened Russia consolidating its gains in the West and China moving against Taiwan in the East may force the United States to confront the expansion of two autocratic regimes, each 8,000 miles from our shores and 8,000 miles from each other, at the same time. The result of such a conflict cannot be predicted.

To this observer, then, it is necessary to castrate the Russian Bear right now, not only to preserve and protect heroic people of Ukraine, but to also prevent the Russian Bear from mating with the Chinese Panda in the future. The World’s lives may depend on it.