Panetta on Ukraine crisis: ‘What’s at stake is whether we’ve learned the lessons from World War II’

Former CIA director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday said that there’s a lot at stake as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalates.

In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Panetta said that “I think what’s at stake is whether we’ve learned the lessons from World War II, that we can’t allow a tyrant to invade a sovereign democracy and get away with it.”

“That’s the most important lesson we’ve got to learn at this moment of crisis,” he added.

Panetta spoke about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s KGB past and said that his first priority is to undermine the United States and “weaken us and do everything possible to try and cripple our democracy.”

He added that “I’ve always felt very strongly that the American people as much as we detest war, recognize that we cannot allow a bully and a tyrant to be able to suddenly take over sovereign democracies. That was the lesson that came out of World War II that if you don’t stop a tyrant, now, that ultimately you will have to face him later.”

According to the former CIA director, the world is at a “dangerous point” in the 21st century but also a “pivotal point in terms of determining what happens in the 21st century as far in this conflict between democracy and autocracy.”

He added that if the United States and its allies can represent “a strong and unified force,” it sends a message not just to Russia and to Putin but also to China, North Korea and Iran.

Panetta said that a united front would make it clear that “the democracies of the world will indeed confront aggression in the 21st century.”

His comments come as President Biden emphasized on Tuesday that Putin “directly attacked Ukraine’s right to exist” and “explicitly threatened war.” There is “no question Russia is the aggressor,” he added.

Biden on Tuesday put into motion coordinated sanctions that were developed over months of intensive diplomacy among allies and aimed at imposing punishing consequences on Moscow. 

The president also announced that he would send additional U.S. troops to Germany, Poland and Romania, where at least 6,000 American forces have been deployed in recent weeks to bolster the eastern flank members of NATO.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also called up military reserves on Tuesday.