Yesterday Hitler and Danzig, today Putin and Donetsk
75 years after the start of the Second World War, the West threatens again to capitulate to an aggression.
Polish intellectuals appeal to the Europeans and request a new Ostpolitik.
welt.de
"To die for Danzig?" This phrase expressed the attitude of Western Europe towards the Second World War, which broke out 75 years ago. Thrice had France and Britain encouraged the dictator of Germany: The "Anschluss" of Austria, the occupation of the Sudetenland and the destruction of Czechoslovakia had for Hitler and his government no serious consequences.
Even as on September 1, 1939, after conclusion of the German-Soviet Pact, the first shots in Danzig, the Western powers found the courage to start a symbolic "funny war". So they have encouraged Hitler for the fourth time.
They thought, at the cost of dying of Gdansk they could save their own lives. The - Warsaw - capital was next occupied Paris, and a little later it rained bombs on London. Only then was called out, "Stop!" "No more war!"
Such a selfish and short-sighted policy of Europeans towards an aggressor must not be repeated. The development today and the sudden increase of voltages remember the state of 1939 An aggressive state, Russia, a region in its smaller neighbor has occupied the Crimea. President Putin's army and intelligence agencies operate in eastern Ukraine, has often incognito. Support units, terrorizing the local population, and openly threaten with an invasion.
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All Europeans and all States should participate in relief efforts for the endangered Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of refugees need humanitarian aid. The economy is bled by unfavorable long-term contracts with Russia's Gazprom. The existing natural gas monopolist had the Ukraine demanded the highest gas prices as one of the poorest customers. The economy of Ukraine urgently needs help, new partners and investors. This also applies to the great, lively cultural scene, the media and citizens' initiatives in the country.
The EU had said about the Ukraine many years, they have no chance - neither membership nor on more than symbolic support. The policy of "Eastern Partnership" has changed it a little; it remained unclear whether it was not merely a replacement policy. |
