This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The German empire lost World War I, and then Adolf Hitler rose up to redeem the German people from their humiliating defeat. The Soviet Union lost World War III (aka the Cold War), and Vladimir Putin rose up to redeem the Russian people from their humiliating defeat.
In 1938, Hitler seized the Sudetenland, a western part of Czechoslovakia, on the claim that it contained many ethnic Germans. The British prime minister reached a treaty with him and came home announcing "peace in our time." In 2008, Putin seized South Ossetia, a northern part of Georgia on the pretext that it contains many ethnic Russians. The French prime minister reached a treaty with him, which we can only hope will bring peace.
In 1939, Hitler attacked Poland. Will Poland be Putin's next victim?
Clark Larsen
Holladay
