History lesson for the crop of current paradoxical DU fascism lovers!

[pampango]

37. I think we should thank Hitler, himself. Russia had signed a nonaggression pact with Germany in 1939

which lasted through Germany invasion and conquest of Poland (of which Russia was glad to take the eastern half, as a part of the pact) in 1939 and of Western Europe in 1940. Hitler had the entire power of his military aimed at the UK after the fall of France in June 1940. Russia made no effort to come to the aid of the UK by opening a second front or any other action.

If Hitler had not invaded Russia in 1941 (before the US was even in the war), there is no reason to believe that Russia would have ever fought against Germany to the benefit of the UK, France, the US or any other country. So we have Hitler to thank for the division of his military between east and west. Russia was fighting to save itself not to benefit anyone else.

...there would be a very good chance that all of us freedom loving people including all the current vitriolic anti-Russia crowd here at DU, would be speaking German. The Russian people are not just our friends. They are indirectly savoirs of American freedom.

Sounds like an American conservative talking about the French. How many times have I heard "The French ought to be eternally grateful to us. If it was not for the US, they would all be speaking German today."

For a time after WWII it was understandable that the French would be thankful to the Allies for their country's liberation, even though that was a consequence of the effort to defeat the Nazis rather than a goal itself. As the decades have gone by, however, it would be juvenile to expect modern French to be "eternally grateful" to the US for that. The liberation is a historical fact. It should be understood and appreciated. But then we all have to move on to the fact that the world changes and policies change. To bask in the glow of something that happened 70 years ago is detrimental if it distracts you from addressing modern problems.

The Russian people are not just our friends.

The Russian people should be our friends. Just like the Ukrainian people, the Chinese people, the Canadian people, ...

We should be much more concerned with the human rights, prosperity and friendship of the Russian people than we are in currying the favor or disfavor of whatever government is in power at any given point in time.