President Donald Trump met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Friday, February 28, 2025, in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
We are living in interesting times
The disturbing February 28 beat down of Volodymyr Zelenskyy by the Trump-Vance duo has signaled a frightening turn in the conduct of international relations by the US.
Until recently analogies linking Trump and his MAGA deputies to Fascists of the past have typically involved unfair exaggerations. They were seen as the work of excessively partisan Democrats and their supporters in the legacy media.
Unfortunately, there have been instances when the shoe fits.
People familiar with the lead up to World War II, can’t help but notice how eerily similar the Oval Office assault on Zelenskyy is to Adolf Hitler’s polemical assault on Austrian Chancellor, Kurt Schuschnigg, at the Berghof—Hitler’s Alpine retreat, on February 12, 1938. One can draw a direct line from that meeting to the outbreak of the most destructive war in human history.
It is difficult to see how the Trump-Vance rendition of that assault might contribute to world peace and stability. And it won’t do much to increase investor confidence in oil and gas development and pipelines here on the prairies or most anywhere else.
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Investment effects
There have been few times in recent memory when so many important facets of economic and political life were this tumultuous and the future so uncertain. Over the past few weeks increasing uncertainty has caused a global decline in the value of publicly traded investment instruments—investors are discouraged when market stability is uncertain or in decline.
People concerned about the lack of new investment in oil exploration and new pipelines here in Saskatchewan typically lay the lion’s share of the blame on the federal government’s environmental and project approval rules. They are not wrong.
But recent events suggest increasing investor uncertainty on the global scale is likely to have an impact on investor confidence affecting petroleum development in the prairies.
President Donald Trump greets President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Friday, February 28, 2025, in the West Wing Lobby. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
Much of the uncertainty at the global level has been generated by the Trump administration’s dangerously erratic pronouncements and threats. Indeed, raising levels of anxiety and confusion is apparently one of the central objectives of Trump’s foreign relations strategy.
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Shakedown at the Berghof
Anyone who hasn’t yet viewed the Oval Office meeting can find it on YouTube (See below – the fireworks are at the end – editor). People who are familiar with the meeting can have a look at the summary of the 1938 meeting that follows below and decide for themselves how closely what happened to Schuschnigg at the Berghof resembles what happened to Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. The direct quotations are taken from William L. Shirer’s 1960 classic, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
Since becoming Austria’s Chancellor in 1934, Kurt Schuschnigg was pressured by Germany to unite his country with the Nazi state. The Anschluss, aka the unification of Germany and Austria, had been a goal of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis since the early 1920s. Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas, Schuschnigg and their government were officially opposed to Anschluss.
Hitler invited Schuschnigg to a meeting at his Berghof mountain retreat to be held on February 12, 1938; ostensibly to discuss several matters of mutual interest, which presumably would include the Anschluss issue. Austria had been at peace with its European neighbours since the end of the First World War. Schuschnigg was expecting a typically polite and reserved diplomatic exchange. He was in for a big surprise.
The first shock was the presence of a few of Hitler’s top generals at the table during the introductory phase of the meeting. And, he was certainly unprepared for his first one-on-one with Hitler which occurred later that morning.
Chancellor Schuschnigg at an Austrian Fatherland Front rally, probably the proclamation of Chancellor Schuschnigg as Front fuehrer on October 10th 1936. Wikipedia
Schuschnigg opened the meeting with Hitler by making polite small talk about the wonderful view of the Alps from Hitler’s mountain lair. Hitler abruptly cut him off and launched into a tirade:
“You have done everything to avoid a friendly policy [Hitler fumed]…The whole history of Austria is just one uninterrupted act of high treason. That was so in the past and is no better today. This historical paradox must now reach its long-overdue end. And I can tell you right now Herr Schuschnigg, that I am absolutely determined to make the end of all this. The German Reich is one of the great powers, and nobody will raise his voice if it settles its border problems.” [invading and occupying Austria].
Schuschnigg was surprised by the outburst, but politely attempted to differ with Hitler, stating that Austria’s contribution to German history was considerable.
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Hitler responded:
“Absolutely zero. I am telling you absolutely zero. Every national idea was sabotaged by Austria throughout history; and indeed all this sabotage was the chief activity of the Hapsburgs [Austria’s pre-World War I royal family] and the Catholic Church.”
The Austrian Chancellor once again politely attempted to present some examples of his country’s contribution to German culture.
Hitler answered:
“That’s as may be. I am telling you once more that things cannot go on this way. I have a historic mission, and this mission I will fulfill because Providence has destined me to do so… who is not with me will be crushed… I have chosen the most difficult road that any German ever took; I have made the greatest achievement in the history of Germany, greater than any other German… “
Later in the hour long harangue, Hitler attacked Austria for daring to have fortifications along its international borders, including its border with Germany. The accusation was gross exaggeration.
“…I have only to give an order and in one single night all your ridiculous defense mechanisms will be blown to bits. You don’t seriously believe you can stop me for half an hour do you? … I would very much love to save Austria from such a fate, because such an action would mean blood. After the Army, my S.A. [the Nazi Party’s paramilitary storm troopers] and Austrian Legion [Nazi underground operatives located inside Austria] would move in and nobody can stop their just revenge—not even I.”
“…I give you once more, and for the last time, the opportunity to come to terms [meaning agree in writing to the Anschluss]… Either we find a solution now or events will take their course…Think it over, Herr Schuschnigg, think it over well. I can only wait until this afternoon…”
When they broke for lunch Schuschnigg looked worried and was unable to join in the lunch time banter. Hitler was said to be in excellent spirits.
Hitler commented:
“He was going to build the greatest skyscrapers the world had ever seen. The Americans will see that Germany is building bigger and better buildings than the United States.”
Perhaps Zelenskyy can revive US support for Ukraine’s defensive war with Russia, if he offers to help Trump build the world’s biggest and best Trump Tower in the world in downtown Kiev.
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The brow beating of Schuschnigg resumed in the afternoon. Under threat of imminent German invasion he signed the document, but protested that it was meaningless unless the Austrian president also signed the document, and he was in Vienna.
For the next month the Austrians employed a combination of appeasement and delay to forestall the Nazi takeover of their country. But nothing they did could prevent the outcome Hitler demanded when he delivered his ultimatum to Schuschnigg at the Berghof the previous month. On the morning of March 12, 1938, the German 8th Army crossed the border into Austria and by the end of the following day the independent nation of Austria no longer existed.
Cheering crowds greet the Nazis in Vienna. Bundesarchiv, Jewish Virtual Library Bild 146-1985-083-10 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
It would be interesting to know if Trump and Vance were aware of the Berghof meeting and its role in Austria’s demise, or if it is all just a coincidence. Regardless of whether they actually know the history, the president and vice president had little problem behaving like wannabe Hitlers on February 28th.
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