On May 11, 6:20=A0pm, hol...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Eugene Holman) wrote:
> In article
> <66d35fc1-61d0-40f7-9274-4d33c84b3...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>
=3D?ISO-8859-13?Q?P=3DE7teris_Cedri=3DF2=3DF0_=3D28Peteris_Cedrins=3D29?=
=3D
>
> <cedr...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> <deletions>
>
>
>
> > Hey, my reaction was to a single phrase by Eugene --
>
> > > > The two protracted wars that the United
> > > > States has been waging in Afghanistan and Iraq have produced
nothing=
> > > > tangible
>
> > Using logic even MTRP must acknowledge -- my point is that there's
> > plenty that's _tangible_.
>
> Point taken. I should have hedged my phrase with a "virtually".
>
>
>
> > I very well know that Eugene will indulge in Homanesque howling
> > defending and/or ignoring Russia, Myanmar, Islamists, etc. to the end
> > of his days -- if this was 1938 or so,would he be explaining how Nazi
> > Germany is on the democratic path and Weimar meant chaos?
>
> When commenting on one issue it is not generally wise to drag in
> everything but the kitchen sink.
>
> I never ignore Russia. Myanmar seems to be almost as silly a country as
> North Korea, but other than being saddened by the fate that has recently
> befallen so many of its people, it is not a place that I think about all
> that much, even if I am aware of and distressed by its disregard for
basic=
> human rights.
>
> As to the early days of the Hitler regime, the case is more complex. The
> first few years saw a clear improvement in social order, employment, and
> national pride. There were even attempts, nowadays generally overlooked
or=
> forgotte, to solve the "Jewish question" in Germany by reaching an
> agreement with Zionist organizations and allowing an orderly flow of
Jews
> to emigrate from the Reich and settle in Palestine. The price paid for
the=
> improvements of Wiemar that marked the first years of the Hitler regime
> was the militarization of society, the persecution of selected
minorities,=
> and a gradual entrenchment of a misanthropic, undemocratic mindset, one
> that eventually accepted mass murder as an acceptable methodology for
> solving societal problems. Hitler and his inner circle had a set of
> objectives that would have been good for what they considered to be the
> best of the Germans, but horrible for just about everyone else. Putin
and
> Medvedev are far more internationally minded and they see Russia being a
> prosperous, respected, and constructive member of the internatonal
> community as good for Russia as well as good for its neighbors and the
> world.
>
> We were primarily dealing with Russia. Having followed Soviet/Russian
> issues since I first starting studying Russian half a century ago
> (September 1958), I am simply not as pessimistic about where Russia is
or
> where it is going as many people here seem to be. There is no royal road
> to or one-size-fits-all form of democracy. Russia tried an unrestrained
> form during the Yeltsin era and got burned. It is now paving its own
path
> and doing much better; the most im****tant factor being the development
of
> a sophisticated and travelled middle class that knows how Russia stacks
up=
> against the rest of the world and understands what remains to be done.
If
> we have learned one thing and nothing else from developments in Russia
> since the collapse of the USSR, it is that you cannot run until you have
> learned to crawl and walk first.
>
> > Probably
> > not, because Gene, more than anybody I've ever met, is an unchanging
> > product of the _gaism=3DE7nas_his time.
>
> The exotic word did not show up on my display. Could you xlain what it
was=
> supposed to be?
>
> > One worries about apples that
> > never rot.
>
> Thre are (quasi-)eternal truths. One of them is that Russia is big and
> cannot be ignored.
>
> > Anyway, it's fascinating.
>
> Fascinating indeed. Russia is arguably a better place than it has ever
> been before in its history, by no means a pleasant country to live in
yet,=
> but with most of the structures in place to evolve into a serious and
> constructive major player on the world stage. Yes, it has warts and it
is
> not above playing cynical games for short-term objectives or to save
face.=
> Unlike a certain superpower that I would rather not name, it has learned
> that there is no future in fighting dirt-poor desert peoples with 21st
> century weaponry, and that waging "wars" against abstractions such as
> terrorism and drugs is counterproductive.
>
> Regards,
> Eugene Holman
Is fighting mountain people with 20th century weaponry much better
activity?
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