This is CBSI on the world.

I'm John Bachelor with Professor Serhi Ploki, professor of Ukrainian history, director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.

His new book is The Russo-Ukrainian War, The Return of History.

The decision is made at the Kremlin by Vladimir Putin,

his state security chiefs watching. On the 27th, what we call now the little green man

appear, gunman in Crimea. A man named Exinov is identified by the Kremlin as to be the new prime minister of the Crimean Parliament.

This is very much an annexation by brute force of Crimea.

The puzzlement now, reading the professor's timeline here, is what the U.S. did, what NATO did,

how they reacted to what was clearly an intention

to brutalize and tear apart Ukraine. Professor, I know that there are second thoughts everywhere,

but your measure today, did NATO go along with the Crimean annexation because it was anxious about war?

It was not ready to worry.

It hadn't anticipated that Putin would go that far.

Why was there not the protest?

I know there were sanctions, but not the protest at the level we see today with a similar

brutality by Russia.

I am personally convinced that if reaction to the annexation of the Crimea would be on the same level as was the reaction to the start of the all-out war against Ukraine

in February of 2022, we would not have to date this big war that Ukraine is

fighting with the help of its Western allies. So the question is why there was no such

reaction. And my explanation to that is by drawing historical parallel between the annexation of Crimea and

Anschluss of Austria.

And the reaction of the West, collective West, was more or less of the same kind.

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