On Tue, 1 Oct 2002, Hakan Falk wrote:
> >If Germany had large oil reserves, then back in 1941 would you have been > >saying that we shouldn't get involved militarily in what was going on in > >Europe, because our motivation must be based strictly on oil, since there > >is oil there? > > You said so also and it was a courageous president who helped Europe, > behind the back of the congress and senate. Not until Japan attacked you > because of ? (yes oil), you got involved in the second world war. It might We were involved before then, but not with our own personnel. We had already sent large amounts of weapons to Great Britain (including 50 destroyer battleships), in exchange for letting us lease military bases to set up military outposts. > also > be a surprise to you that Soviet lost 100 on every allied soldier killed and Yup, that was unfortunate. Of course, that number (I think the Soviet Union lost 25 million people roughly) also includes a very large number of non-military personnel. And, it should be added that initially the Soviet Union had signed an agreement with Germany to be partially on their side, when the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east on September 17, 1939. Germany then turned on the Soviets, and attacked them about 18 months later. > that US contributed with 10% of the allied forces. But after the war my > generation > benefited from great entertainment and a fantastic time, we enjoyed very much > all the war movies that showed US single handed winning the second world > war in Europe. Hollywood producers do not represent the sentiment of the American public. They make their living by either making stories up, or glorifying ("improving upon") historical occurrences. I'd say that without the help of the US, it is not unlikely to believe that today much of Europe would be called "Germany" and be covered by flags with swastikas. However, that is not the same as saying that we single-handedly won the war - rather that we played a role that was integral in defetaing the axis powers (both in terms of materials - oil, weapons, etc., as well as in military personnel). Our naval and air forces made a huge impact. The UN Secutiry Council was created to make sure that such a thing never occurs again, when a tyrant is allowed to invade and conquer countries at his own whim, while other countries sit idly by thinking "well, he hasn't invaded us yet, so we're not going to do anything". If in 1939, the US, the Soviets, Britain, and France immediately agreed to attack Germany after Hitler sent his forces into Poland, how many millions of lives would have been saved? Thus, the UN Security Council NEEDS to take action when another tyrant starts invading countries at his own whim, and killing people within his own country that he doesn't like. We can't just sit idly by and say "well, he hasn't directly invaded our territory yet, so we're not going to do anything". Unless we learn the errors of our past, we are doomed to repeat them. The UN should model its actions on the policies of Winston Chirchill and FDR - in particular, FDR's "Four Freedoms Speech", and acting together to create such a world (i.e. his speech to congress on January 6, 1941 calling for congress to act to help establish a world founded on freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. But we're veering a bit off topic now. :) Mike ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Plan to Sell a Home? http://us.click.yahoo.com/J2SnNA/y.lEAA/MVfIAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/