The Gathering Storm

In 1938, a ruthless dictator in Germany announced that he was going to come to the aid of oppressed German minorities in neighboring countries. Winston Churchill called it the Gathering Storm.

The rest is history – one of successive invasions by the Nazis and enabling accommodation by the West until, at last, war became inevitable.

Today, a ruthless Russian dictator has used the same pretext to “liberate” Crimea. Absent serious disincentives, Vladimir Putin must be expected to respond similarly to “appeals” for help from what he calls his beleaguered countrymen in other neighboring states.

Tragically, the Free World is arguably even less prepared to counter such behavior than it was before World War II. A combination of weak Western leadership, emasculated alliances and a hollowed out U.S. military just may invite the next one.