Mike wrote -

IOW, events very seldom happen full blown out of nothing.

WWII is a perfect example. There were many small, and not-so-small, events that happened throughout the 1920's and '30's that lead up to the larger events of 1939.

And a lot of problems go back centuries where some injustice or other simmers below surface before some event finally makes it boil.
Like a volcano. One doesn't notice anything much until it starts
smoking and blowing. But underground things have been going on for a long time.
I was watching a documentary on the Congress of Vienna of 1814.
That was when the winning allies against Napoleon got together and
carved up Europe. They no longer wanted one or two powerful countries who could
cause problems, but some sort of balance of power between them all.
Tsar Alexander wanted Poland, as a buffer between Europe and Russia,
which he never got. Russia had eyes on a buffer state so there would never be another European invasion of Russia. This gave rise to Hitler and Stalin in 1940 with Poland and later the
Partly explains Putin today, to me. The doc was made several yeas ago.
He wants a buffer between Europe and NATO and Russia, thus the problem in Ukraine today. It wasn't like Vlad just decided one day out of the blue to invade Ukraine.
Joe
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