When British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Adolph Hitler, in an effort to avoid an armed conflict, he conceded a section of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland in exchange for a promise that it would appease Hitler’s territorial desires. Upon his return to England, he made the boast that such a deal would ensure “Peace in our time”.
It didn’t work.
Instead, Hitler viewed such a capitulation as a sign of weakness and we were quickly embroiled in a deadly conflict that enveloped the entire world.
The situation sounds eerily familiar to current circumstances. As Donald Trump prepares to head to Alaska to meet with Vladimir Putin, he too is promising to make a deal that would ensure a peaceful settlement of the conflict that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is promising Peace in our time.
Like Chamberlain, Trump’s plan involves Ukraine surrendering land in exchange for a peaceful resolution to Russia’s invasion. Because Trump is obviously ignorant of history, he sees his plan as being unique, so he is unaware of the consequences of Chamberlain’s actions. He presents his plan with the eloquence of a third grader, saying there is “good stuff” and “bad stuff” for both sides(a phrase that is fraught with horrific images of white supremacists marching in Charlottesville).
No doubt Trump is unaware of these parallels. He is also blind to Russia’s history of violating international agreements. One such treaty, the Budapest Memorandum, which was signed in 1994, ensured the sovereignty of Ukraine’s borders in exchange for surrendering nuclear weapons left behind following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia violated that agreement with its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2016, and further ignored it with his 2022 invasion.
Trump also ignores Putin’s stated desire to reunite the former Soviet Union by conquering those countries that were once a part of the USSR. The invasion of Ukraine was an important step in achieving this goal, and Putin expected little resistance. He envisioned a blitzkrieg of Ukraine the same as Germany had done to Poland decades earlier. The fact Ukraine stands firm is a shock to what Putin viewed would be an easy victory.
So, we know Putin’s motivation, but what about Trump’s ? First, there was his campaign promise that he would be able to end the war in the first day of his presidency, if not sooner. When this didn’t happen, he backtracked, saying he was being sarcastic. (I recall a quote from the movie The Princess Bride: “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”) He then admitted that halting the confrontation would be a lot harder than he thought.
His second motivation is his long sought after pursuit of an elusive Nobel Prize. He doesn’t care about the circumstances. It’s all about the trophy. That’s why he’s been known to cheat at golf and to award himself imaginary accolades. He wants the Nobel simply because President Obama was awarded one. His jealousy of Obama even has him removing the former president’s portrait from its accustomed spot to a stairwell, away from public view.
While Chamberlain’s motives, misguided and naïve though they were, were noble ones, Trump is all about getting attention. Hell, he is even still whining about not getting an Emmy for his lame reality show.
The land swap solution is a non-starter for Ukraine. Even on the face of it, it’s a ridiculous proposal. Imagine if, in exchange for border Security, Mexico demanded Texas be returned to them (Hey! That’s not a bad idea!). The Ukrainian Constitution expressly prohibits such an agreement.
Whatever the outcome of the meeting in Alaska, one thing is certain. It will never result in Peace in Our Time.
CJ Waldron is a prolific writer, political analyst, and educator. With Bob Gatty, he is co-author of the Hijacked Nation book series, which tracks the Trump presidency through blogs published on this website.
