Not as a metaphor for a textbook. As a warning for the present.
“Don’t repeat 1938—don’t trade security for an illusion”
Zelensky drew a straight line to the logic of the Munich Agreement: the idea that sacrificing someone else’s sovereignty can buy peace. In 1938, it was Czechoslovakia. Today, he argued, it would be Ukraine.
His blunt formulation (reported widely) was that it would be an illusion to think the war can be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine—just as it was an illusion to believe sacrificing Czechoslovakia would save Europe from a greater war.
He wasn’t just invoking history for effect. He was saying: this is the decision-point again.
And then came the hardest part of his framing: time does not pause for hesitation. In war, war itself “owns time.” While allies debate, Russia adapts.

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