The Right Stuff: Russian invasion of Ukraine a worldwide threat

By Jim McCully March 7, 2022

Adolf Hitler’s forces invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1938. Britain Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edouard Daladier signed the Munich Pact on Sept. 30, 1938, which gave Hitler the Sudetenland. That gave the Nazis 66% of Czech coal, 70% of its iron and steel, and 70% of its electrical power.

Great Britain, the U.S. and Russia in the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 certified commitments to transfer nuclear weapons to Russia but more important were commitments to ensure the sovereignty of Ukraine. Those commitments were to: “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, refrain from economic coercion, seek immediate United Nations Security Council (action) to provide assistance in the event of an act of aggression against Ukraine.” Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Ukraine is the largest country in Europe and has world-leading resources that include iron, manganese, titanium, zirconium ores, coal, neon for computer chip production, natural gas, uranium, gold reserves, the second-most mercury and graphite, hydropower resources of 44.7 billion kilowatt-hours annually, the third-most shale gas reserves in Europe, and fourth-most natural resource in value.[...read more]