More history (on meaning of Pearl Harbor) [OT]

Sat Sep 15 07:09:35 UTC 2001

> ><http://www.io.com/~flashlk/quizofweek.htm> says:
> >
> >Question 1: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant, and 
> >fill him with a terrible resolve." Who said that and in what circumstance? 
> >(Difficulty 6).
> >Answer 1: Japanese Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, commenting on the aftermath 
> >of the attack on Pearl Harbor (1941). Probably no truer words were ever 
> >spoken. The sneak attack that decimated the Pacific Fleet also unified the 
> >American people like no other single event in its history. From that point 
> >forward, the fascist powers were doomed.
> >Source: Pearl Harbor, a Life Magazine Collector's Edition

If whoever bothered to invent that pseudo-quotation bothered to learn
hitory of WWII, he'd know that most military action had seen no American
involvement at all.  The widely regarded as the turning point of WWII was
Stalingrad battle, after which Red Army began the advancement on all
fronts.

US become involved in the continental WWII to prevent Soviets from
occupation of the entire Europe, not to win the war with Germany.  It was
already going to be defeated (and it was the Red Army which took Berlin).

>From the point of view of saving Europe from communism it was a brilliant
move - wait for both sides to become exhausted before getting in.  By that
time the Red Army had no resources to fight both desperate Nazi and Allied
Forces (Japanese were no threat at all to USSR because it was protected
by huge very sparsely inhabited landmass, so they could be safely
ignored for a while), and this is how the modern political map of Europe
came to be.

Of course, American school textbooks forget those small details and make
it look like that US nearly single-handedly defeated fascism.  It didn't.

To get a sense of what was going on and who was fighting whom see

	http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/ww2-loss.htm

And if you ever wondered why America dropped A-bomb on Japan - it was to
prevent imminent occupation of Japan by the Red Army.  After Germany
capitulated the Soviet armies were quickly shipped eastward, and were
quickly advancing (this you can also see on the world political map,
especially if you compare pre-war and post-war boundaries).  The only way
to prevent People's Republic of Japan was to scare s*t out of Japanese to
force them to capitulate to Americans.

The myth that American involvement in WWII made a significant difference
from the point of view of defeating fascism is just a myth.  What US
involvement did is to check advancement of communists, not Nazis. 

No wonder, US immediately took place of the main enemy of the Soviet
Union. It still was worth it, Stalin was no better than Hitler.

Sorry, fellow Americans, you _are_ brainwashed if you believe the drivel
they teach you as "history".  "Fascist powers were doomed" because of
Pearl Harbor, sure.  Until you check the figures and actually think for a
second or two.

--vadim

PS	If you want to know how _that_ is related to Sep 11, you may be
	interested to know that Chechens were collaborating with Nazi;
	which prompted Stalin to retaliate after the war with mass
	deportations.  They were allowed to return decade or so later,
	having no love for Russians and the Allies in WWII.  That's how
	their militant leaders became natural allies with Middle-Eastern
	terrorists, including (surprise) bin Laden.