To the Editor,

World War I began for stupid reasons. Interlocking alliances meant that when Austria-Hungary gave Serbia an ultimatum, Russia backed Serbia, Germany backed Austria-Hungary, France backed Russia, and soon the world was marching to war.

World War II started because the dictators who ruled Germany, Italy and Japan realized the democracies opposing them had little stomach to act. Those democracies - including France, Britain and the U.S. - decided to placate the dictatorships and temporize, hoping that the efforts of Japan to seize Manchuria, Italy to colonize Ethiopia, and Germany to expand in Europe would not affect them. When the democracies did finally act, it was too late to avoid what became World War II.

Are we now on the brink of World War III? We have alliance systems resembling those of World War I, and we have dictators in China, Iran, and Russia. We have a bizarre government in North Korea that possesses nuclear weapons. We again have influential people in the U.S. who see no need to defend democracy.

As someone born during World War II, my view is that our country should remain the “arsenal of democracy,” providing Ukraine with the weapons it needs to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

While we live in dangerous times, they will become even more dangerous if Putin is not stopped. Japan could have been stopped when it invaded Manchuria in the 1930s. Italy could have been stopped when it invaded Ethiopia. Germany could have been stopped long before the Munich debacle. Had that happened, we might have avoided the carnage of World War II.

If Putin is defeated, World War III can be averted. If he is permitted to seize territory from or annex Ukraine, why would he stop there? And what lessons would China learn relative to Taiwan?

“Leader of the Free World” is not an obsolete phrase. It’s not some corny relic of the Cold War. It continues to be our country’s burden, our country’s responsibility. If the United States doesn’t stand up for democracy and freedom, tyranny will spread across the globe.

Roy Christman