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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Simon Jenkins

Putin is not Hitler. His actions in Ukraine are horrific enough to need no exaggeration

Putin with four soldiers in background holding red flowers
Vladimir Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, 23 February 2025. Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/Reuters

Is Vladimir Putin another Adolf Hitler? The western world seems to think so. In which case is Donald Trump another Neville Chamberlain and Ukraine another Czechoslovakia? Is history bunk, or is it a wise old man leaning on the gate as Europe storms into its latest crisis?

Godwin’s law holds that the longer a political argument continues, the nearer it gets to Hitler. This reductio ad Hitlerum distorts the issue under discussion and diminishes the exceptional horror of Hitler and the Holocaust. A variant of Godwin’s law goes further. It asserts that having to call Hitler in aid means that you have already lost the argument.

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