The Germans screwed up their welcome in a number of ways.
You got it! And a lot of people sufferred from communism in other ways too.
The Germans screwed up their welcome in a number of ways. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov |
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Here's some related information in Smithsonian magazine.
Smithsonian magazine: The 20th-Century History Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov |
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A kinda related thread, on Russia's economy.
https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1501360272442896388 Kamil Galeev @kamilkazani Basically, the mobsters control the "easy" stuff (oil, gas, mining), while the engineers and nerds run the complex stuff (manufacturing) but have no power and are undercut by the mobsters above them. So they're highly vulnerable to boycotts from the outside. It's pretty long (be sure to expand the "more comments"), but very thought provoking. Cheers, Scott. |
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Interesting! Makes sanctions more powerful to bring Russia down.
Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov |
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Good read. Thank you.
Europe will be dealing with the shadow of that conflict for a long time to come. West-Germany dealt with the past, but the rest never did. I do see parallels with what happened internally in Belgium, another one of those places that had always been part of one glorious empire or another, and the antics of part of Flanders'* populace leading up to and during WW II. The basics came down to the economic elites speaking French and the peasants Flemish. Queue some choice fake news about Flemish boys dying in the WW I trenches because their French speaking officers were unable to give them proper orders, and by the time the Germans came around again, there were several legions who saw them as saviors from oppression, and who were more than eager to do their bidding. * For completeness, there was collaboration on the French speaking side as well, but the connection between das Deutsche volk and le people Wallonne was nowhere near as strong as the one to het Vlaamse volk. |