Over the weekend, while the ‘fair and open’ election in the Crimea to have the Crimea be annexed into the Russian Federation, I got to listen and read all of the talking bobble-heads tell how it is all the Presidents fault.  I have always been fascinated by the ability of self proclaimed experts to boil down extremely complex and convoluted events into simple ideas expressed in simple sentences.  Or in this case, sound bites.

First, be aware that what I’m going to do now is going to really ‘dis’ all those people out there who find it best to “just blame Obama”.  I am not writing to/for them, I long go learned that there is nothing I can say that will effect people who like blaming the current POTUS for what is going on.  Who I am reaching out to are all those people out there who might be convinced that what is going on in the Ukraine can be solved with simple actions.

Now, lets start with some historical facts….Except since the  1950’s the Crimea has not been a part of the Ukraine.  Historically the Crimea has either not been a part of any of the Russias or been a part of what is sometimes called Great Russia.  With the founding of the USSR the Crimea was first  the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic which was a part of the Russian SFSR.  In 1954 the Crimea was made a part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. When the USSR fell apart the Crimea eventually ended up a part of the Ukraine.  Got that?  Good, now onto what I want to talk about, the comparison of what is happening now and what was happening in Europe in the late 1930’s.

While there are superficial similarities between then and now it would be a great mistake to draw any close comparisons.  Europe of the 2010’s is not the same as the Europe of the 1030’s.  Just off the bat nether the USA nor Europe are in an economic depression that was gripping both Europe and the USA in the 1930’s.  We need to remember  just what a dominating effect the Great Depression had on all political thought.  To get a nice feel for just how dominating the Great Depression was I recommend “Since Yesterday” by Frederick Lewis Allen.

In any case, if one must draw similarities between the two decades we would be best to draw the closest.  I submit that the correct comparison is the Austrian Anschluss  for what is happening in the Crimea.