Thursday, 13 July 2023

Hitler forever

I told a highly intelligent American friend (Catholic, Republican, usually commonsensical) who was high up in the US State Department, that for neo-cons it is always 1938. (Paul Gottfried said that first.) My friend replied that that's because it is always 1938!

There you have the history of the post-war period.

The invasion of Ukraine was caused by Hitler analogies (in Putin's mind), the new cold war with Russia will have been caused by Hitler analogies, like the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Gaddafi, like the Cold War and the Suez adventure. 

Donald Trump prevented Assad being overthrown because of Hitler analogies but was almost overthrown because of them himself.



3 comments:

  1. Anonymous13 July 2023 at 13:22

    You mean that Putin thought that Ukraine was about to launch a blitzkrieg?

    As for Assad, Obama was president during much more of the Syrian rebellion than Trump, and never provided the rebels enough support to make a difference. I absolutely cannot see the 1930s references in the case of Libya, which didn't seem to exert itself farther from home than Chad, or in the case of Suez.

    But Germany in the 1930s has been a rich store of misleading analogies, if not appeasement then the enabling act.

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    1. Political Refugee from the Global Village14 July 2023 at 10:17

      I amended what I wrote to make myself clear, to say 'The invasion of Ukraine was caused by Hitler analogies (in Putin's mind), the new cold war with Russia will have been caused by Hitler analogies..' Yes, the expansion of Nato reminds Putin and other Russians of Charles XII, Bonaparte, the Kaiser and Hitler.

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  2. Anonymous14 July 2023 at 13:07

    The post WW2 political economic global framework , and the basis of Pax Americana , was built at Yalta , Tehran and Bretton Woods where the allied powers were not only planning the postbellum reconstruction but also creating the terms of reference of crises and diplomatic questions for world players. These also rather like the Conference of. Vienna 1815 , Treaty of Versailles 1919, or the treaty of Westphalia, 1648, prognosticated on the basis of key questions. In 1944, it was how to prevent another Hitler.
    So it isn’t surprising what you say. But , can I suggest, a question now might be are we still in the postwar epoch or entering - have entered - a new one?

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