I was surprised by a March 22 letter to the editor suggesting basically that Russia will be Russia, that bullies will be bullies, and we should just concede to Russia the land in Ukraine that they have occupied in their recent brutal attack on this proud and sovereign nation which, against all odds, is striving to create a free and democratic society while under attack by a brutal dictator.
This point of view reveals a startling ignorance of history. Russia first invaded Georgia, then Crimea, and now other parts of western Ukraine in a fashion startlingly similar to Germany’s rise in the 1930s, when many thought that Germany would be satisfied when they first occupied the Rhineland, then Austria, then Poland and Denmark, and on and on. Appeasement of autocratic bullies is a losing proposition, as history has clearly revealed.
— Dennis Gall
Anchorage
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