Few Americans today have heard of or know the situation concerning Sudetenland. It was a part of Czechoslovakia in 1938 when Fuehrer Adolph Hitler decided its ethnic German population should be part of the Fatherland. To avoid war the European countries let him have it over the Czech protests. Britain’s Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain called the agreement “Peace in Our Time.” The treaty stated Hitler wouldn’t try to annex any more. In November he took another chunk and in March of 1939 he took the rest and put in a government loyal to him.

            Hitler’s military wasn’t half as large as the countries around him but because they kept letting him have his way, he did not believe their threat of war if he invaded Poland. World War II was started. Instead of rushing troops to the East and taking Berlin with ease since most of his army was in Poland, they stayed and waited for him to attack.

            The question is obvious. Is the Sudetenland like the Eastern part of the Ukraine? Will Russian leader Vladimir Putin stop with a piece or will he try to take the rest? He took the Crimea and some sanctions were imposed. But he has built a bridge to connect it to Russia. Many NATO countries have Russian enclaves which are restless. Will he try to do the same thing?

            Is the Ukraine a Déjà Vu of 1938 and 1939’s precursor of war? Putin is following Hitler’s playbook on his rise to power and taking control of Russia. How can he be stopped – short of World War III?