Letter: History might repeat itself

To the Editor:

It sure sounds as though history might repeat itself soon.

In 1938 and early 1939, Hitler got control of the Sudetenland, a German-speaking region of western and northwestern Czechoslovakia. He would soon cross the new Czech border and take all of the country.

Since 2014, Russian-backed separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine have been fighting the Ukrainians so they could become part of Russia. The Russian-backed leaders of both regions are [conducting] referendums to see what the people want. Moscow already said it would welcome the two regions. I’m pretty sure that most of the Ukrainians fled when Russia invaded in late February. So you don’t have to be a political genius to tell how the voting will go.

Let’s just pray that Putin doesn’t copy what Hitler did in early 1939. He needs to keep his hands off Ukraine. He also needs to pay for all the damage he’s done. Finally, he needs to stand trial for all of the war crimes he is guilty of committing.

Oh, he’s not the genius our ex president claimed he was when this mess started.

George Hayner

Montgomery