Posted by caraher on September 14, 2005, at 14:22:06
In reply to Re: Revolution, posted by cockeyed on September 14, 2005, at 11:53:47
> And didn't Mr. Chamberlain sell out Czeckoslavkia.
Yup... I think most Europeans agree that was a very bad thing!
>And didn't the french sit out "the phoney war"
So did the Germans... and the US, of course! The French were operating on the basis of obsolete military doctrine. They were well-prepared to re-fight WWI, and sitting tight in their fortifications was the wise choice if a replay of the Great War was coming up. They were wrong, of course!
> And unless I miss my guess, weren't Stalin and Hitler, the devil's pair allies until Hitler's madness led him to attack Russia.
Strictly an "alliance" of convenience. Both leaders were buying time - Hitler to swallow Poland and then the west, Stalin to rebuild the purge-weakened Red Army. Communists were the Nazis' sworn enemies from the start, and the combination of Hitler's racial doctrines and the thirst for "lebensraum" meant that the war in the east was always a matter of when, not if.
>And wouldn't Stalin have made a nice place of Europe. And finally, if the USA had not supplied Britain with vitally needed supplies and then our young men, you'd be sprechen auf deutsch or perhaps Russian.
If Britain hadn't held out alone after the fall of France, while the US maintained its neutrality, all of continental Europe might be goose stepping today. US industrial dominance and the infusion of manpower were vital in taking back Europe, but that's hardly cause to belittle the contributions of the British. And of course, Stalin's armies did most of the fighting and dying throughout the war. Brutal dictator though he was, without Stalin grinding away at the German army in the east it's quite possible Hitler could have held France and his other conquests against the US and Britain.
> Don't forget 9/11. It didn't happen to you.
It scarcely follows that it would have happened to "them" if it didn't happen to us. The US is uniquely positioned for the wrath of the violent Islamists as both a dominant economic and military power and as the chief supporter of Israel.
> Sorry, but, I get quite bitter over those who neglect the very real fact that the U.S.A, for all it's gas guzzling, does in fact keep the peace, for what it is, these days.
This is an article of faith for many Americans that ought to be questioned. The war in Iraq, instigated by the US on false pretexts and with no end in sight, is Exhibit A in the case that the US is sometimes (I'm not saying "always" or even "usually") a force that creates violence and death rather than peace. It should never be taken as axiomatic that the US military are always the "good guys." For American political freedom to mean anything we must hold our leaders accountable for their actions - which requires entertaining the possibility that those actions might be wrong!
poster:caraher
thread:554816
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20050728/msgs/555034.html