Friends, foes mark WWII’s beginning in Poland

[Martinus]

Oh, and I hoped the Pope would attend. At least he can recall some personal experience from the combat. 

[Martinus]

Looks like Goebbels won after all. 

You can blame the Cold War for the persistence of this story.  Before the Poles emerged from the iron curtain to be flabbergasted by the story we all just assumed it was true.

Actually, you can blame a post war Polish movie by Stanislaw Wajda. He made a highly symbolic/art house movie about WW2, where he put in a scene of cavalry charging the tanks as a sort of metaphor of the new era replacing the old era etc., and this was taken literally. 

[Martinus]

One thing I don't get is that Russia is vehemently accusing and Poland is vehemently denying that Polish diplomacy was trying to find some compromise with the nazis against the Soviets pre WW2 and to dismantle the Russo-French alliance.

The way I see it: Polish diplomacy would have needed to be fantastically incompetent not to do this. I mean this was the rational thing to do. 

[Neil]

One thing I don't get is that Russia is vehemently accusing and Poland is vehemently denying that Polish diplomacy was trying to find some compromise with the nazis against the Soviets pre WW2 and to dismantle the Russo-French alliance.

The way I see it: Polish diplomacy would have needed to be fantastically incompetent not to do this. I mean this was the rational thing to do. 

Yeah, but they can't just admit it.  Most modern regimes in Europe look fondly on Stalinism, whereas Hitler's regime was the worst thing ever.  Europeans can be very stupid sometimes.

[Martinus]

Yeah, the Jewish Council of Germany issued a statement pretty much saying that it is unacceptable to try and compare Hitler and Stalin. 

[Valmy]

Yeah, the Jewish Council of Germany issued a statement pretty much saying that it is unacceptable to try and compare Hitler and Stalin. 

One ruthlessly invaded his neighbors and systematically murdered millions and the other was a German.

[Viking]

Yeah, the Jewish Council of Germany issued a statement pretty much saying that it is unacceptable to try and compare Hitler and Stalin. 

One ruthlessly invaded his neighbors and systematically murdered millions and the other was a German.

?

One was Georgian and the other was Austrian

[Valmy]

One was Georgian and the other was Austrian

I meant ethnically

[Josquius]

Yeah, but they can't just admit it.  Most modern regimes in Europe look fondly on Stalinism, whereas Hitler's regime was the worst thing ever.  Europeans can be very stupid sometimes.

Since when?
Stalinism hasn't even been popular with communists since the 50s let alone the political establishment.

[Tamas]

Yeah, but they can't just admit it.  Most modern regimes in Europe look fondly on Stalinism, whereas Hitler's regime was the worst thing ever.  Europeans can be very stupid sometimes.

Since when?
Stalinism hasn't even been popular with communists since the 50s let alone the political establishment.

Yeah but most of you fuckers allow the waving-around of red stars and red flags while you dont let nazis do the same with swastikas

[Josquius]

Yeah but most of you fuckers allow the waving-around of red stars and red flags while you dont let nazis do the same with swastikas

Nazism= 100% total evil
Communism= Spotty. In theory its quite nice. In practice it hasn't always went to nazi level evil.

[Tamas]

Yeah but most of you fuckers allow the waving-around of red stars and red flags while you dont let nazis do the same with swastikas

Nazism= 100% total evil
Communism= Spotty. In theory its quite nice. In practice it hasn't always went to nazi level evil.

Communism in theory is far more horryfing than in practice.

[HVC]

Yeah but most of you fuckers allow the waving-around of red stars and red flags while you dont let nazis do the same with swastikas

Nazism= 100% total evil
Communism= Spotty. In theory its quite nice. In practice it hasn't always went to nazi level evil.

In theory it's theft, in practice it's evil.

[Josquius]

Communism in theory is far more horryfing than in practice.

No.
In theory its a perfect society.
Its never going to work of course but taking it purely as it is on paper there's something rather wrong with you if you think its evil.
The only anti-commuism argument with any merit is the standard one against Utopia in the traditional sense; it would be boring.
Perhaps you could make a argument from that that a standard capitalist democratic system is better. We need a bit of suffering and inequality to make life worth living.
But worse than a totalitarian dictatorship?
No.

[Eddie Teach]

In theory it's theft,

Meh. There's no "moral" way to distribute wealth, society just chooses the one that works best.