Any western leader negotiating over the fate of smaller countries in central or eastern Europe does so in the shadow of two bitter historical experiences: the Munich agreement of 1938 and the Yalta agreement of 1945. At Munich, the British and the French agreed to Adolf Hitler’s demands for the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia – without the participation of the Czech government, which was not represented at the talks. At Yalta, the British and the Americans made a deal with Josef Stalin that, de facto, accepted Soviet domination over postwar Poland and other countries under Russian occupation – again, without the participation of those concerned.
任何一個就中、東歐小國的命運展開談判的西方領導人，都處於兩次痛苦歷史經驗的陰影之下：1938年的慕尼黑協定和1945年的雅爾達協議。在慕尼黑協定中，在沒有捷克政府參與的情況下（談判中根本沒有捷克方面的代表），英國和法國同意了阿道夫•希特勒(Adolf Hitler)提出的分割捷克斯洛伐克領土的要求。在雅爾達，英國和美國與約瑟夫•史達林(Josef Stalin)達成協議，事實上承認了蘇聯對戰後波蘭和蘇聯佔領的其他國家的主宰——同樣，相關的那些國家未能參與談判。