Trump has accused Zelensky of Ukraine of trying to start World War 3. This is quite a reasonable statement, provided we accept that Britain started World War 2 by unnecessarily declaring war on Germany in September 1939 (much to Hitler's surprise, incidentally: he had not been expecting this) and then ensured vastly more deaths by rejecting Hitler's proposal for peace talks after the fall of France in 1940.
By the same reasoning, Belgium was largely responsible for World War 1, by insisting on resisting the German invasion of 1914. Without this unexpected Belgian resistance, which derailed the German military timetable, the Kaiser's armies would have taken Paris within a few weeks, and the war would have been over with minimal casualties.
Trump also labelled Zelensky a "dictator" for postponing elections in Ukraine, and once again, there are parallels. In 1940, Hitler would, by Trumpian reasoning, have been perfectly justified in pointing out that Churchill was entirely without democratic credentials: he had never been elected Prime Minister by the British people, and that the general election due in 1940 had been postponed indefinitely. It did not take place till 1945: the longest period without an election since the 17th century; and when it was finally held, Churchill's government was overwhelmingly defeated!
I wonder whether Trump had these historical facts in his mind when making his accusations. What do you think?
