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.
任何一个就中、东欧小国的命运展开谈判的西方领导人，都处于两次痛苦历史经验的阴影之下：1938年的慕尼黑协定和1945年的雅尔塔协议。在慕尼黑协定中，在没有捷克政府参与的情况下（谈判中根本没有捷克方面的代表），英国和法国同意了阿道夫•希特勒(Adolf Hitler)提出的分割捷克斯洛伐克领土的要求。在雅尔塔，英国和美国与约瑟夫•斯大林(Josef Stalin)达成协议，事实上承认了苏联对战后波兰和苏联占领的其他国家的主宰——同样，相关的那些国家未能参与谈判。