WILL PRESIDENT OBAMA BE A REPEAT OF NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN?

Unfortunately history has a tendency of repeating itself.Particularly if people ignore the facts that resulted adversely from actions by leaders who made bad decisions with serious, even disastrous consequences!

One of Planks of Obama's campaign for the presidency was to change what he called the "saber rattling" diplomacy of president Bush. He spoke often about his desire to restore friendly relations with Countries like North Korea and Iran by talking to their leadership with no reservations preconceived before the talks took place. He also voted to not invade Iraq when almost all of the Senate, including his new Secretary of Sate Hillary Clinton, agreed that it was the appropriate reaction to Saddam's refusal to comply with many UN resolutions about dismantling weapons of mass destruction.

Renewing American Diplomacy includes the following statements about what people like MoveOn.org and the Peace/anti Iraq war crowd expects Obama to do regarding our foreign policy decisions. Particularly with Iran.
"The Problem: The United States is trapped by the Bush-Cheney approach to diplomacy that refuses to talk to leaders we don't like. Not talking doesn't make us look tough – it makes us look arrogant, it denies us opportunities to make progress, and it makes it harder for America to rally international support for our leadership. On challenges ranging from terrorism to disease, nuclear weapons to climate change, we cannot make progress unless we can draw on strong international support.
Talk to our Foes and Friends: Obama and Biden are willing to meet with the leaders of all nations, friend and foe.They will do the careful preparation necessary, but will signal that America is ready to come to the table, and that he is willing to lead. And if America is willing to come to the table, the world will be more willing to rally behind American leadership to deal with challenges like terrorism, and Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs. SOURCE:OBAMA /BIDEN The Challenge To Restore Our Standing

My opinion is the OBAMA and his supporters act as though the years of failed efforts by Countries in the European Union, to dissuade Iran from going nuclear simply didn't happen. That is blindness, not continuity. And that's without Mr. Obama's pledge to meet personally with Iran's leaders, an incredible act of legitimization he seems willing to give away for nothing.

In 1937 the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Neville Chamberlain thought that talking and making concessions to Hitler would avoid war with Germany.
He went to Munich by airplane. This was the first time he had flown in an airplane!
Hitler appeared charming and promised that if the French and Great Britain would give back the geography called the Sudetenland to Germany. It had been taken from Germany at the the treaty of Versailles after world War. Hitler would stop his plans to invade Czechoslovakia .

Chamberlain became Prime Minister of Britain on 28th May, 1937. Over the next two years Chamberlain's Conservative government became associated with the foreign policy that later became known as "appeasement".

Chamberlain believed that Germany had been badly treated by the Allies after it was defeated in the First World War. He therefore thought that the German government had genuine grievances and that these needed to be addressed. He also thought that by agreeing to some of the demands being made by Adolf Hitler of Germany and Benito Mussolini of Italy, he could avoid a European war.


In November, 1937, Neville Chamberlain sent Lord Halifax to meet Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goering in Germany. In his diary, Lord Halifax records how he told Hitler: "Although there was much in the Nazi system that profoundly offended British opinion, I was not blind to what he (Hitler) had done for Germany, and to the achievement from his point of view of keeping Communism out of his country." This was a reference to the fact that Hitler had banned the Communist Party (KPD) in Germany and placed its leaders in Concentration Camps.

In February, 1938, Adolf Hitler invited Kurt von Schuschnigg, the Austrian Chancellor, to meet him at Berchtesgarden. Hitler demanded concessions for the Austrian Nazi Party. Schuschnigg refused and after resigning was replaced by Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the leader of the Austrian Nazi Party. On 13th March, Seyss-Inquart invited the German Army to occupy Austria and proclaimed union with Germany.

The union of Germany and Austria (Anschluss) had been specifically forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. Some members of the House of Commons, including Anthony Eden and Winston Churchill, now called on Neville Chamberlain to take action against Adolf Hitler and his Nazi government.

In March 1938 Hugh Christie told the British government that Adolf Hitler would be ousted by the military if Britain joined forces with Czechoslovakia against Germany. Christie warned that the "crucial question is 'How soon will the next step against Czechoslovakia be tried?' ... The probability is that the delay will not exceed two or three months at most, unless France and England provide the deterrent, for which cooler heads in Germany are praying." German Historians allege that when Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler, he told Hitler about the plot that was being hatched by the German General staff headed by General Beck!

On 29th September, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini signed the Munich Agreement which transferred to Germany the Sudetenland, a fortified frontier region that contained a large German-speaking population. When Eduard Benes, Czechoslovakia's head of state, who had not been invited to Munich, protested at this decision, Chamberlain told him that Britain would be unwilling to go to war over the issue of the Sudetenland.

The Munich Agreement was popular with most people in Britain because it appeared to have prevented a war with Germany. However, some politicians, including Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden, attacked the agreement. These critics pointed out that no only had the British government behaved dishonorably, but it had lost the support of Czech Army, one of the best in Europe.

One staunch critic of appeasement was the journalist Vernon Bartlett. He was approached by Richard Acland to stand as an anti-Chamberlain candidate at a by-election in Bridgwater. Bartlett agreed and in November, 1938, surprisingly won the previously safe Tory seat. Henry (Chips) Channon , a junior member of the government wrote in his diary: "This is the worst blow the Government has had since 1935".

In March, 1939, the German Army seized the rest of Czechoslovakia. In taking this action Adolf Hitler had broken the Munich Agreement. The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, now realized that Hitler could not be trusted and his appeasement policy now came to an end.Source: www.Spartacus Educational.com

I am not suggesting that Obama is as naive or stupid as Chamberlain, but if he tries to fulfill a promise to the "pecenik" crowd by trying to talk to Tyrants that run North Korea and Iran. I believe they will see a sign of weakness and take advantage of it. Dealing from a position of strength is the only way to deal with Bullies!