These notes were put together by researchers for The Glenn Beck Program.
Watch the full episode of The Root on demand on TheBlaze TV. Get all the details HERE.
In 2014 the map as we knew it changed.
Two conflicts played out within 4 months of each other. On February 27th Russia began a special operations ground invasion of Crimea. Annexing it fully just two weeks later. Russia’s ground invasion of Eastern Ukraine would follow soon after. On June 28th ISIS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared himself Caliph Ibrahim of the Islamic State Caliphate. The border between Iraq and Syria would be dissolved. As it was in Europe, just across the Black Sea, the map was suddenly unstable.
Both conflicts have the capability to bring the entire world into conflict. The likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1930’s. In fact, the similarities between Nazi National Socialism and what’s currently taking place in Eastern Europe and the Middle East is striking. Ethnic fascism in Russia and Islamic Fascism in the Middle East. Why can’t the world properly identify what we’re seeing now? Has fear of what’s staring us directly in the face forced us to seek appeasement with men like Putin, Baghdadi and Khamenei?
For Europe, the return of ethnic fascism to Russia is all the more tragic. A continent that lost millions of lives in world war to expel this evil ideology and halt it’s greedy desire to expand its territory is now watching with bated breath to see what Putin does next. What’s going on currently in Russia and Ukraine is eerily similar to 1938. The result back then ultimately would be World War 2.
On March 12, 1938 Nazi Germany in direct defiance of the Versailles Treaty annexed Austria. For the first time since 1919 the map of Europe had been unlocked. The world collectively held their breath wondering what would happen next.
Just two weeks after the Austrian Anschluss Hitler called a secret meeting with Konrad Henlein, the head of the pro-Nazi party SdP (Sudeten German Party) in Czechoslovakia. The message was clear. Leverage the large number of ethnic Germans in western Czechoslovakia and accuse the Czechoslovakian government of oppression against them.
"I am asking neither that Germany be allowed to oppress three and a half million Frenchmen, nor am I asking that three and a half million Englishmen be placed at our mercy. Rather I am simply demanding that the oppression of three and a half million Germans in Czechoslovakia cease and that the inalienable right to self-determination take its place." - Adolf Hitler's speech at the NSDAP Congress 1938
Hitler ordered Henlein to make demands from the government so large that they’d never agree to them. When they didn’t, the Sudeten Germans were to revolt.
It was a clear act of aggression that threatened to unlock the European map even further. The world knew exactly what Hitler wanted. He wanted not only Western Sudeten Czechoslovakia….he wanted the entire country. If this occurred Poland would soon be vulnerable to Germany not only from the West but also from the South.
Czechoslovakian President Edvard Benes was in an impossible situation. He had a modern and capable army, but alone against Germany he had no chance. Also, the Sudeten part of the country contained the majority of Czechoslovakian industry. It was the backbone of their economy. If the Sudetenland was amalgamated by Germany their economy would collapse.
Hitler raised tensions further by ordering 750,000 German troops to the border as an “army exercise”. He called Czechoslovakia a fraudulent state, and that it was in violation of international law by denying the Germans in the Sudeten the right to self-determination. Benes in desperation pleaded with England and France to offer their support should Germany decide to follow this all the way through.
The story is well known. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany desperately seeking “Peace for our time”. Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler would go down in history as a foreign policy that enabled a homicidal mad man. What’s not as well known is the depth of Chamberlains denial in the face of Nazi fascism. This story has a much deeper back end. Most think that Chamberlain was justified in his actions because he didn’t know just how crazy Hitler was. Is that accurate?
The Oster Conspiracy
Lieutenant Colonel Hans Oster of the German Office of Military Intelligence had watched Hitler’s rise from inside since the beginning. To those outside Germany Hitler’s propaganda seemed hard to believe. Like Islamic terrorists today. When Osama Bin Laden threatened to attack New York City no one gave it much credit. Intense racial hatred and the idea of a mass global Jewish conspiracy doesn’t sound rational to most of us. Hans Oster however knew exactly what Hitler was capable of. He had listened to his speeches and witnessed him back them up first hand.
In what would later be called the Oster Conspiracy, he began to gather like minded individuals from all over the German military. He made additional contacts in the foreign office, the Secretary of State, and many others. The idea was to have a plan in place to depose Hitler and reinstate the monarchy of Kaiser Wilhelm II that was in exile in the Netherlands.
In March 1938 Oster’s plans accelerated. The Austrian anschluss and the Sudeten crisis in Czechoslovakia made it obvious what Hitler wanted to do. Oster activated a contact of his in the foreign office, Theodor Kordt, who was currently stationed in London with the German Ambassador. Kordt called a secret meeting with Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax to inform the British what Hitler was up to and to let them know that a plan was in place to depose him.
September 1938...Oster’s plan is in motion. Winston Churchill predicted that after Oster’s coup a new system of government could be in place within 48 hours. The English appeared to be on board. That meant the French would fall in line as well. Oster’s troops were stationed in buildings at strategic points all over Berlin waiting for the go order. They were ready.
On September 29th Chamberlain gave in to Hitler. They decided to hand the Nazis the Sudetenland without even consulting Czechoslovakia. Britain and France told Benes that if they didn’t respect the Munich Agreement they would have to resist Germany on their own. With no other option he capitulated.
The German army would fully occupy the Sudetenland in October. The map was unlocked. This set off a tidal wave of border disputes. Poland invaded and annexed portions of Czechoslovakia it lost in 1919. Hungary annexed Carpathian Ruthenia in Slovakia. Germany eventually rolls completely through Czechoslovakia occupying it entirely. Less than a year later the entire European map would unravel.
Europe was so terrified of another war that they were willing to appease and ultimately enable a mad man. Churchill made this statement after the Munich Agreement was signed:
“And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.”
It makes it all the worse that the British knew full well of the Oster Conspiracy and what Hitler was actually up to. Fear and a lack of courage to call Hitler the evil fascist that he was ultimately caused that fear to become reality. As Churchill accurately predicted, it was “only the beginning of the reckoning”.
Compare March 1938 to March 2014. The situation is almost an exact match. Like Hitler’s March 12 1938 anschluss of Austria, Putin’s “anschluss” of Crimea would take place less than a week apart on March 18. Motivated by ideals of spreading Russian racial and cultural superiority and liberating their Orthodox holy land Putin’s “little green men” swiftly took over the peninsula.
Not long after the annexation of Crimea ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine began to arm themselves and riot. Vladimir Putin claimed he would act in the interest of ethnic Russians in Ukraine and sent thousands of troops to the border as an “army exercise”. He then began publically funneling non-lethal aid into the country without Ukrainian approval. Covertly he also began funneling in troops and sophisticated weapons.
Eastern Ukraine, like the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, is also the main industrial hub in Ukraine. The economic backbone of the country. If Eastern Ukraine falls to the Russians the Ukrainian economy faces collapse.
Sound familiar? This fascist playbook has been used before.
Just like it had been done in 1938, the map was being unlocked. The border areas in Eastern Ukraine became unstable. Other border areas in Moldova and Georgia began to wonder if they were next on Putin’s list. Are they? On March 5, 2015 Russia deployed thousands of troops to the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and Moldova in Georgia. The reasoning? An “army exercise”. Will Russia completely roll through Ukraine just like Hitler eventually did to Czechoslovakia? That could eventually be the trigger that unlocks the European map once more leading to full on world war.
As if expecting this to actually happen Putin has been reaching out to radical groups on both the left and right all over Europe. Anyone that is against the EU/US alliance structure has become a potential ally. Examples are Russian support for right winger Marine Le Pen and her National Front party in France. On the opposite end of the political spectrum is Russian support for the far left wing Syriza government in Greece and the Podemos Party in Spain. All three have already declared support for Putin’s Russia.
As the economic crisis in the European Union continues more of it’s members are becoming impatient with Germany. Germany on the other hand is getting impatient with certain members of the EU. As the economies in Italy, Greece and Spain continue to decline Germany, as the EU’s economic powerhouse, has had to write the majority of the bailout checks. It’s unsustainable and it won’t last. The European alliance structure could be on the verge of falling apart.
The timing of the splintering of the European Union and Russia’s military moves in Eastern Europe is significant. The former enables the latter. The more Western Europe weakens the more Russia will push. With the European Union effectively hamstrung the United States becomes the only nation economically and militarily capable of leading a defense. Will we respond and risk escalating the conflict?
The answer appears to be yes...
This month the U.S. Army announced it’s own “exercise”. Operation Atlantic Resolve, which launched last April after the Crimea annexation, is now being extended and expanded. U.S. troops have landed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. The expansion will land additional U.S. troops in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and possibly Georgia. The decision has also been made to land U.S. troops in Ukraine. On March 5th the 173rd Airborne Brigade deployed 1 battalion to L’viv in Western Ukraine. From there they’ll train the Ukrainians to better fight the Russians.
The countries the U.S. has deployed in is very telling to what’s going on. It’s a line in the sand. NATO on one side and Russia on the other. Colonel Michael Foster of the 173rd said this regarding U.S. troop deployments:
"So by the end of the summer, you could very well see an operation that stretches from the Baltics all the way down to the Black Sea. As you connect countries, there is almost a line of US troops."
Almost completely under the radar NATO has drawn a red line down Eastern Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Directly in the face of Russia.
While Europe degrades in the shadow of Russian fascism hell bent on the pursuit of an ethnic empire, another conflict is evolving across the Black Sea.
...Islamic fascism
USAF / Handout | Getty Images
Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images
David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images