Historians may one day mark this week as the beginning of World War III.
Like every great conflagration in history, it did not start with fireworks or ringing declarations but with the quiet, hollow tread of cowardice masquerading as strategy or capitulation draped in the threadbare costume of strength and the folly of baring every card while claiming negotiation.
No rousing Sunday headlines heralded another world war, just the tragic end of an alliance built. There was no grim storm of missiles over Western Europe or Russian tanks thundering through the Fulda Gap. The only civilians being killed were in Ukraine, dead at the hands of the Russian beast.
But make no mistake: just as France and Britain once closed their eyes to Hitler’s threat, we are now living in the early hours of a devastating conflict born of men too weak to stand for what is right.
It was Neville Chamberlain who gave appeasement its most infamous face. This weekend, we learned Chamberlain was a rookie.
For a genuinely catastrophic betrayal of the West, look no further than the staggering realignment ordered by Donald Trump this week. In just five days, America has become a client state of Russia, subservient, obedient, and just as accepting of the slaughter and evil for which Vladimir Putin is famous.
Somewhere down in hell, Hitler is wishing he’d had Trump to negotiate with in World War II. We would have dropped Fat Man on London, and Little Boy on Birmingham.
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