Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Mike McFaul for the Obama administration said Monday on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that Russian President Vladimir Putin attempting to annex parts of Ukraine reminds him of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s military moves at the beginning of World War II.
McFaul said, “I think it’s right that the Ukrainian governments ask for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. That won’t resolve anything because Russia has a veto there. But I think it needs to have a large debate so that people understand that this is an invasion. There’s some confusion that about that people are saying it’s not an invasion and it’s using different words. It needs to be called for what it is.”
He continued, “We have to learn from history and not just repeat history. This reminds me of the beginning of World War II when first it was annexation. Hitler said, ‘I’m just going to do that. I’m not going to go any further.’ We should get ahead of history here and not just wait for this massive military intervention.”
McFaul said, “I don’t think sanctions are going to stop Vladimir Putin. I don’t think they are going to stop or really impact his decision-making, but at least it signals to the world and especially to the Ukrainians that we care about these principles of sovereignty, that we care about the simple fact that great powers should not be able to annex and invade smaller powers.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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