Crazy Russian said:
Especially for the Americans and the English who love to accuse Russia of all deadly sins without carrying about the truth and the history:
Ummm.... for the record, most Americans don't blame the
Russians for anything. We blame the
Soviets, or, to be more precise, Soviet leaders. The only problem Americans would have with Russians is that they might one day have been shooting AK-47s at them, because if they didn't, their Commissars would have shot them for treason to the "glorious motherland". By the way, I'd like to know how standing in line for 3 hours for bread is "glorious".
As a side note, I also liked Mikhail Gorbachev. I think gradual change was preferable to sudden transition, like under Yeltsin, but in a strange way, his drunken yin was perfect for Bill Clinton's wanton frat-boy yang.
It seems that even professionals, all the more newsdealers can't realise that neither West and East Germany nor new united Germany (nor Japan) is a juridical successor to pre-war states; they don't have continuity.
Actually, I must seriously disagree. There is chronological and cultural continuity, even if there is no political continuity. This also gets into a deeply philosophical discussion as to the actual definition of "nation" or "state", which I'm not going to touch with even a ﾆ津脆陳ｿﾆ津?#943;ﾆ津脆津脆陳ｿ. (Note: If anyone gets this, I'll give them a cookie.) Just because, constitutionally, they are
theoretically different entities doesn't mean that they are culturally, especially in the minds of the citizenry.
As for TR's role in the Russo-Japanese War and subsequent negotiations, I can not apologize or defend our actions. They were, simply put, imperialist. However, so were Russia's. We were trying to get a slice of the Far East, just like everyone else. We were no better than anyone else, but no worse either.
You are barking up the wrong tree, my American friend. It is much more advantageous for the USA if Japan is not influential and sovereign.
This was discussed in another thread, but honestly, I fail to see how Japan is not sovereign. There are limitations on their military actions in their constitution and in the peace treaty, but these things are gradually growing more and more defunct. If anything, the Yakuza controls Japanese politics more than the Americans. We are moving most of our troops out of Japan and over to Guam instead. In short, we are weaning ourselves away from Japan. The people who have big issues with Japanese sovereignty are Koreans, Chinese, and Taiwanese. It doesn't benefit the Americans if they are not sovereign. Besides, if they are a vassal state (I prefer the term "client state" myself), why don't they pay tribute to the U.S., as was common in previous ages?
You are right, he's barking up the wrong tree, but not necessarily for the reasons you stated.
Once Nietzsche wrote: 'No American future! No English patterns! Long may mixing, and friendship between, the Russian and German nations!'
I have very little respect for Nietzsche. His philosophy formed a cornerstone to Nazism, especially since
der fuhrer was an
ubermensch.
Besides, England is German (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes), and by extension, so is the United States (being of Anglo-Saxon founding, with a huge dose of German immigration during the 18th and 19th centuries). In addition, as a Roman historian, the modern world was born from the 5th century AD Germanic invasions of the Western Roman Empire. Russia was dominated by Viking kings before the Mongols invaded, Vikings who were closely related to the Germanic peoples.
So, you see, an American or English future or pattern is, in reality, a German one.
Besides, the Battle of Stalingrad was a fantastic example of Germans and Russians mixing it up and having tons of fun, right Friedrich?
Long live friendship between Japan and China!
For such a smart guy, this comment shows an enormous lack of understanding about Japan and China in the modern political arena. Getting Japan and China to reconcile would be like having Southerners forgive Northerners for winning the U.S. Civil War.
I should pose the question in the different way: 'What does Sakhalin have that the USA wants so bad?'
Abso-frickin'-lutely nothing. Which is why we don't want it. Hell, we don't give two shits about it at all! You act like it's on the U.S. Nightly News at 8:00 pm every night or something. "THIS IS A CBS SPECIAL BULLETIN!!! RUSSIA AND JAPAN STILL ARGUING ABOUT SAKHALIN!"
Ummm... no.
The American politicians are glad that we blame each other. It's exactly what they want.
Wow. Next thing you're going to be telling me that little green men from Area 51 are controlling the U.S. government mind-control rays. Please. Actually, the United States would prefer it if people got along. It's better for trade and business. People like to claim that the current business in the Middle East is so we can get cheap oil. Unfortunately, that theory's patently false, because ever since the war started, gas prices have risen 250%.
Go figure. I guess peace and harmony are good for business.
In addition, I've gotta hand it to you, right now, we are more concerned with North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Israel/Lebannon/Palestine. Russia and Japan squabbling over Sakhalin is far below our radar. We honestly don't think that hard about Russia now that you don't have Soviet hardliners arguing to blow us up.
I just express my opinion and respect yours. You are my friend. If you want, you may hate me. Political problems must not strain relations between the people of our countries. Here I stand.
Awesome. My respect for you has just shot up. This is one thing that you've said that I can agree wholeheartedly with.
My friend, I know what I am talking about. Unlike you, I learn history. You don't know all the awful truth about your country. If you know it, you'll feel shock.
I am an historian. It's my job. I'm all but finished my MA in history, so I know what I am talking about, too.
You are 21? That's too young to remember the Cold War. You weren't in the United States when there were bombing drills. You never saw the television commercials and ads for bomb shelters. You weren't there when Khruschev decided it'd be smart to park nuclear missiles 90 miles from Florida. You have no idea how terrified my grandparents were that, any day, they'd be dead because your leaders decided they wanted to extend the ComIntern.
You don't remember movies like
Red Dawn or
War Games or TV series' like
The Day After. I do. Even in the 1980s, we were certain that the clock was ticking to Doomsday.
I remember being 5 years old, and asking my 23-year-old father why "They" wanted to kill us? What was an Iron Curtain? What are those big rockets on TV, with all those marching soldiers and that big red flag? Who were "They"? Why did they want us destroyed?
You didn't have to live with that kind of fear. You were, what, 5 when the Wall came down? You may have heard stories, but you have no idea what kind of terror we had to live with. We were pretty certain our leaders weren't going to push the button on the End of the World first. But we didn't know about yours. And given such iconic nutcases as Stalin filling the Soviet historybooks, we didn't have a great deal of faith in the Soviets being rational.
By the way, American history textbooks are full of our mistakes. Chapters on Andrew Jackson's policy of forced removal, the Indian Wars, slavery, and Vietnam all exist in American school textbooks. We are also highly divided on our current international involvements. It's part of living in a free country. We have dissent, but it is mostly peaceful because we all have the right to vote. We have freedom of speech and of the press. Our deeds are not very shocking to us. What might shock us is how misinformed people may be, and how utterly biased they are against us.
You say you don't want to hate someone based on international politics. Well, I'm sorry to say, the United States is comprised of its people. If you hate the United States, you hate its people, period. In a democratic republic, the people are sovereign.
You've read Nietzsche. Now do me a favor. Go read John Locke.