“A far-off country of which we know little” was Neville Chamberlain’s argument for doing nothing about Hitler’s 1938 annexation of Czechoslovakia. That annexation – carried out by a revanchist Nazi regime, allegedly in defence of ethnic Germans, is an unnerving parallel to Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea. Russia’s president is using ethnic Russians as an excuse to restore Moscow’s old empire. Viktor Yanukovich, the ousted president of Ukraine, has even said: “I would like to ask those who cover for these dark forces in the west: are you blind? Have you forgotten what fascism is?” I really do hope not.
1938年希特勒(Hitler)吞并捷克斯洛伐克時，時任英國首相的內維爾?張伯倫(Neville Chamberlain)決定不采取任何行動，聲稱捷克斯洛伐克是“一個我們所知甚少的遙遠國度”。意在“收復失地”和復仇的納粹政權以保衛德裔少數民族為由，吞并了捷克斯洛伐克，此舉與弗拉基米爾?普京(Vladimir Putin)吞并克里米亞有著令人不安的相似之處。俄羅斯總統正以保護俄羅斯族為名，行恢復俄羅斯帝國之實。被趕下臺的烏克蘭總統維克托?亞努科維奇(Viktor Yanukovich)甚至表示：“我想問問西方那些庇護黑暗勢力的人們：你們瞎了嗎？你們忘記什么是法西斯主義了嗎？”我真的希望我們沒有忘記。