A Warning From History Ignored...

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Well, it's currently the eve of VE Day+80; the eightieth anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in Europe in the Second World War, ending five years of all-out warfare instigated by the expansionist aspirations of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Having had family both directly and indirectly involved in that conflict, as I would guess most of us alive in the UK will have had, I feel it's incumbent on us all to at least reflect on the import of the event and remember those who gave up their lives in defeating the tyranny that threatened Europe then; but also to reflect on the global situation in which we find ourselves today, with a belligerent nation, also with expansionist ambitions, at war in Europe at present.

The parallels between now and then are there to see, and many are talking about the 'appeasement' of Russia and Putin by Donald Trump over Ukraine, offering to cede territory without the traduced party's involvement. Let's face facts: Putin respects Trump and the USA even less than Hitler respected Chamberlain and the UK in 1939. The time for complacency is over. The problem is that Trump has taken the exact same 'nation as victim' approach as Germany and Russia in their time have, conflating conspiracy and economics, race and politics, religion and secular issues; to arrive at a paranoiac view of the world that logically could only end in war of some kind. Trump should know his own limitations, but refuses to accept them. He's a spoilt child that has never been said 'No!' to. A spoilt child with that much power is simply scary. As for the Pope stunt...

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