The good thing is that Putin is not the raving, insane madman that Hitler was.

[Nye Bevan]

Hitler's invasion of Russia was an act of sheer stark raving insanity. Had he maintained his alliance with Stalin, divvying up the countries that each wanted to grab, he could have concentrated his forces in the West. D-day would probably never have happened; Hitler would have ended up controlling most of continental Europe, and quite possibly the UK too. And had he not been insane enough to murder or exile thousands of smart Jewish scientists, he could easily have been the first to get the atom bomb.

Putin seems much more coldly intelligent and rational. He will give everyone time to get used to his grabbing Crimea before he moves on to his next target. Obviously his aim is to essentially restore the USSR; if he does this slowly and surely, nobody will stop him militarily (and I am not advocating that we should). But he is not going to overreach like Hitler did; I can't see him invading Poland, or any EU or NATO member, for example.

That's the main reason the sanctions for Crimea have to be fairly mild; we need a lot of room to step them up for when Putin decides to grab more countries.

[TwilightGardener]

1. It's a stepped response, I agree. This is going to be a long game, at least until

Putin is out of office, and maybe then some. Can't overreact, can't shoot ourselves in the foot, can't burn bridges, and need to leave ourselves somewhere to climb later.

[geek tragedy]

2. He's Brezhnev, not Hitler. And, if you don't think Stalin would have stabbed Hitler in the

back had Hitler not beat him to it. . .

[unblock]

3. exactly. stalin sits idly by while hitler commits all his troops to the west? hardly.

[geek tragedy]

9. and, Hitler leaves his eastern flank exposed to Stalin? nope nt

[unblock]

19. ok, my one-liner was a simplification.

right, hitler would never have nakedly exposed the eastern front but committing *all* troops to the west. of course he would have left a defensive contingent, and dug in for that matter.

the war would have been very different, but people act as if attacking russia was a pure loss and idiotic move on hitler's part. people forget that he conquered quite a bit of land for a good long while, and was able to make use of the resources there during that time.

those resources helped keep the entire war effort going. i don't think the western front would have played out much better for hitler without the resources of the east.

nevermind that russia would steadily have gotten stronger and stronger in the absence of war against germany and with access to those same resources. long term, russia would then have been even more formidable.

hitler striking then was probably his best move, at least it made more sense than waiting.
japan used the same logic in attacking pearl harbor. that was their last best chance, strategically speaking. they may have awakened a sleeping giant, but we had already begun to stir.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. He's just a rather typical politician showing he's "tough".

See Cold War, War on Terror, bravado for numerous precedents.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. That's adorable.

nt

[MNBrewer]

5. While Hitler ended up as a raving insane madman... I don't think he started out that way

necessarily.

And given Angela Merkel's assessment of Putin, I wouldn't rule out insanity just yet.

[Nye Bevan]

10. "Mein Kampf" is the ravings of a lunatic (nt)

[MNBrewer]

16. I haven't read it

[Nuclear Unicorn]

20. Now that you mention it --

Are there any ideological insights on Putin? Does anybody know what this guy does or does not believe in matters bigger than himself? Is he the sole center of his entire universe?

Honest question.

[Vashta Nerada]

6. Why does everyone always bring up Godwin's Law on the internet?

Aren't we able to have a conversation without invoking Hitler and the Nazis?

[reformist2]

8. It's because there are too many people who don't know when they've lost the argument.

[MNBrewer]

18. Godwin's law doesn't indicate that the person who mentions Nazis first loses.

It says as the length of the thread increases, the probability of a Nazi comparison approaches 1.

[Nye Bevan]

11. Oh please. An authoritarian leader of a diminished former superpower starts to grab back land

that was formerly part of its empire, and when the obvious comparison is invoked all you can do is squawk "Godwin"?

[reformist2]

7. Crimea practically ran into Russia's arms.

[Nye Bevan]

12. In the plebiscite that followed it, 99.7% of Austrians approved of the Anschluss.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-announces-an-anschluss-with-austria

[Benton D Struckcheon]

17. The Von Trapps only made up .3% of the population, I guess... n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Crimea was depopulated of the indigenous Muslims at the point of a gun by the USSR

who then stocked it with Russians the way you stock a pond with trout. If you put all the locals on boxcars to relocation camps and move your own friends in, they are very likely to run into your arms if you ask them to, having seen what you did to the previous cast of 'We Are The Crimean People'.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

21. Thank-you.

[tavernier]

13. Yes, he's a Saint.

From the KGB school of compassion and love of mankind. Second only to Gandhi.

Most of Eastern Europe would agree. Right? Right???