The current world situation is similar to that leading up to WW2. Putin has long stated that he wants to rebuild the Russian empire. Just like Germany in the 1930s, he is starting by taking bits of countries at a time (starting with Crimea in 2014, then parts of Georgia followed by Eastern Ukraine). The world is sitting back, doing nothing, so he feels free to take more. He will then go for entire countries. The likes of Poland, now one of the most free and democratic countries in the world, will be the next target. China is doing the same, having recently occupied the South China Sea and taken over an 8 km deep part of Bhutan and a small part of India. In the 1930s the world paid a huge cost in blood and money for its appeasement, and it will do so again. This, together with the fast-deteriorating human rights situation in many Western countries such as Australia and Canada, portends a grim future. People have learned nothing from the past.