Chris, don't confuse Hitler and appeasement with Putin and Ukraine...that is a very muddled and incorrect historical comparison at worst and apples and oranges at best. It really gets me when I hear the WWII comparison. Usually, I let it go but I feel the need now to react because people are turning this whole conflict into a lot more than it is...Putin does not, will not and cannot take on Europe, Nato, or the rest of the world. Estonia, God love them, would give the Russians a fight for their lives. Expect for WWII, when Russia threw the entirety of the country, and the economy and also had allies everywhere helping it; the Russian military has regularly gotten its ass, always kicked by much smaller armies. Russians are not good soldiers. Intellectually, you wrote a lot of intriguing stuff that sounds great in a lecture hall--and I love your well-researched article and responses--but I feel much of what you wrote here misses my point and Russia's original intentions...and future intentions.