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Walter's great post touching on what pre WWII "appeasement" was really about inspired me to put this together.
Fascism has had a serious brand problem since WWII. The German version of fascism has tainted it with the Holocaust.
Fascism didn't start out this way originally; the Italian version featured thugs beating up on political opponents, sure, and all sorts of alliances between corporate big shots and Mussolini's inner circle. Yeah, there was the entire militarism thing, but that was cool with the capitalist types; profits are profits, after all, and profits from arms sales are always healthy.
When Germany's fascist movement picked up steam, it wasn't any cause for alarm; it was felt that a firm alliance could be forged with the Nazis as easily as it was forged with Mussolini's Fascists. The thing is though, the European capitalist establishment didn't know that the Nazis really meant all that anti-semitism stuff. The ruling elites DID like the hatred of the communists and socialists, though, which is why they so enthusiastically supported Hitler. Giving away chunks of Czechosolvakia was a small price to pay to keep the feared Bolsheviks at bay.
The problem was that the elites in Britain and France got the word from their German counterparts too late: "it's a trap!" Kristallnacht happened; the German capitalists discovered they were in nearly as much trouble as the Trade Unions they hated. The Nazis were calling the shots, not them.
So, Britain and France (both ruled by conservative regimes) discovered that the attack dog they thought they were training to go after Stalin was inclined to go after them, instead.
Consequently "appeasement" is not quite the creature that our right wingers here would hope for us to take it as; the notion was created after WWII as a cautionary tale for dealing with the remaining totalitarian menace that Hitler failed to eliminate and indeed made stronger than ever.
Needless to say, applying it to the current situation in Gaza as a rationale to slaughter Palestinians to stop "terrorist" Hamas is just another rhetorical diversion from the real issues.
