Reoccupation of the Rhineland, Anschluss with Austria, Sudetenland, Polish Corridor, friendliness with other authoritarian powers and treaties of support – all events that lead to World War 2. Appeasement to the demands of Hitler only bought time for the Allie’s to arm up and get ready for war.

It’s eerily similar to Russia and the Ukraine situation today. Putin has already annexed the Crimea from the Ukraine and moved a vast mechanized army along the mutual border. Putin has had successful meetings with the other authoritarian giant, China, each lending a small modicum of support for each other’s territorial ambitions. Emotionally decreeing that Russia created the Ukraine and so is rightfully Russia’s land, Putin today has moved Russian troops into two pro-Russian territories within the Ukraine.

The west, seemingly on a back foot, has tried diplomacy, has threatened economic sanctions, threatened halting a much needed gas pipeline, very quiet saber rattling and nothing much more. Is this modern appeasement? We know appeasement against authoritarian expansion doesn’t work, never has. The crucial difference today from 1939 is nuclear weapons, particularly those onboard submarines, theirs that patrol our waters and ours that patrol theirs.

And while we squabble with our internal issues of disunity who is to say how much of that is through Russian espionage and interference. The current Trucker’s Convoy, that has gone global no less, comes to mind hence the Emergencies Act being proclaimed here in Canada as the RCMP and CSIS discover anomalies, and certainly Trump’s cosying up to Putin over the last number of years has prepared and softened the Americans and emboldened the Russian to now be able to push his desires.

At the moment our people are weak, blinded by selfish pursuit of ‘my’ rights instead of ‘our’ rights, our politicians are therefore weaker as they maneauver to maintain or gain political cred and power on the domestic scene. At the very least PM Trudeau has acted against the turmoil, that we have uncovered armed extremists is no real surprise, and how deep that hole is is a troubling concern. And the world moves on with our enemies seeing us in turmoil and are taking advantage of our uncertainty.

We are in trouble. Big trouble. If Russia takes the Ukraine, even bit by bit, this will embolden China to take over Taiwan and the control of other bits of SE Asia.

My dad was right in our discussions in his last days six years ago. He said then that it was so much like the 1930’s of his youth and that the autocratically powerful will try to take advantage as we look elsewhere. His favourite line, ‘Here we go again.’