Philosopher and author George Santayan is credited with saying "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  In today's worldwide crises, his words bring a fearful reminder as we look at just a few current events.

        Russia is accused of having combat troops fighting alongside pro-Russian rebels for control of eastern Ukraine.  This just a few months after Russia annexed the former Ukrainian section known as the Crimean peninsula.

        Russian President Vladimir Putin denies that any Russian troops are or were involved – even while proof mounts that they are.

        Remembering the historic blunder when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Adolf Hitler in 1938 (and we all know how that worked out), the current leader of Great Britain, David Cameron, recently said, "We run the risk of repeating the mistakes made in Munich in 1938.  We cannot know what will happen next."  His words came as he urged his counterparts to stand firm against Russia's meddling in the Ukraine.

        In the Mideast, word of atrocities by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) explode in the news on a near-daily basis; from videoed beheadings of American journalists to mass executions that number in the thousands of Iraqi and other soldiers, as well as civilians killed to purify the ISIS Caliphate.

        President Barack Obama responded to the recent barbaric acts by ISIS by saying "Our objective is to make sure that [they are] not an ongoing threat to the region … And we can accomplish that. It's going to take some time and it's going to take some effort."

        Meanwhile, lurking in the thoughts of many are recent reports of more than 100 people who hold United States passports and between 400 and 500 who hold British passports fighting with the ISIS group; some of them involved in acts of inhumanity on an unimaginable scale.

        If you don't think that any of those "foreign" ISIS fighters, committed to Sharia while  damning Westerners, can't return to their home countries and commit violence on the level of that which happened on Sept. 11, 2001, think again.  Traveling through three, four and more different countries to return home, some are doing it now.  British officials estimate that two-thirds of those who traveled to Syria have already returned to British soil.

        One ISIS fighter recently killed was U.S. citizen Abdirahmaan Muhumed of Minneapolis, MN.  Before leaving to join ISIS, Muhumed was employed by the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport where he had security access to the tarmac and planes.  He was the second known U.S. citizen to die for the ISIS cause.  Is there a possibility he could have returned to a civilian job at a U.S. airport?  Of course there is.

        Attacks on U.S. soil are easier today than on Sept. 11, 2001 because of the huge quantity of military supplies now available in Iraq and Syria, better bomb-making skills and access to the Western passport holders who can move unnoticed in the U.S. and Europe. 

        Only space keeps me from listing more trouble spots throughout the world - Israel, Palestine, Somalia - the list goes on and on and seems to grow every week.

        President Obama and 60 other world leaders will be meeting in Wales this week at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit. 

        Let's hope that by the end of the week the NATO leaders will come to an agreement and take action that will provide all of the member countries with a solid direction towards addressing the violence and fear that people live through today.

        But don't count on it.