Victor Hansen sees eerie parallels to the pre-World War II period as Russia get's all Russia-like:
Appeasement, collaboration, and isolationism always prove a lethal mix — past and present.
Yes, while the past has had an eerie inter-war vibe to it (and that move paved the way for the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia), we seem to be going past the "inter-war" phase into a "pre-war" period.
Which is why my Pucker Factor is redlining lately.
The surface justification for our ten-year rule on defense retrenchment didn't make it past 5 years.
If we're lucky, this is a pre-Cold War period.
But if we are not lucky, I'm not saying that Putin is playing the role of Hitler these days. He might be the Mussolini sidekick in the analogy, eagerly trying to put back the empire of his glory days even though it can't be done.
That would be the really unlucky path.
