George Will: Putin Reads Hitler's Playbook

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not Hitler "but he's read Hitler's playbook," says conservative columnist George Will.

Appearing Wednesday on Fox News Channel's "Hannity," Will referenced the Munich Agreement, in which portions of Czechoslovakia were given to Nazi Germany in 1938 in an effort to appease German leader Adolf Hitler. Hitler said the lands belonged to Germany because many ethnic Germans lived there.

Putin made much the same claim in annexing the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine this month, and many fear he plans to annex other parts of Ukraine and other former Soviet republics for the same reason.

"Putin feels exactly the same way" as Hitler, Will said. "If he can't bring them home to Mother Russia, he's going to move Russia's borders out to get them."

Will also criticized Secretary of State John Kerry for calling Russia's move a "19th-century act."

The Obama administration thinks the world changed when the calendar turned to the 21st century, but it forgets, Will said, that among the first acts of the new century were attacks on New York City and on the Pentagon in Washington.

"They really think that war somehow is out of date. War is the great human constant. Western literature begins with Homer. It's all about war, and it's been war ever since," Will said.