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Are our enemies really our enemies?

Way back in WW2 when the rest of the world was told that all of the Nazi's were evil. We never considered the possibility that it was propaganda. Because we judged an entire Nation for the actions of many of them.

We never considered them human because we convinced ourselves that we were just and righteous in our campaign against them.

But consider this. The Germans we shot so easily as they would try to shoot us. We never saw them as human. We never thought that they were fathers, sons, mothers or daughters.

As the world once again reduced Germany to Rubble. Took away their voices and their technology. Raped and pillaged by the Russians.

War is never such a simple thing as allies and enemies. It's a very complicated story with 3 sides.

Yours mine and the truth.

So, do you think there were some good nazis?

I think there were. Some were bad but the good ones would just follow the rest like sheep. Because if you disobeyed the regime then your family could be imprisoned. The wars we fight may not be right. But the reasons we fight may very well be right.

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Lancer 7 Jan 22
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0

only losers have war criminals

1

Iā€™m sure not all the Germans were bad but their leader Adolf Hitler was definitely bad. His military leaders were the best in the world at what they did which was wage war but they just had to many odds against them and they were fighting for an immoral regime. Hitlers greatest blunder was attacking Russia without first defeating the British.

0

All Nazis fought for a totally immoral cause. Many were drawn in by the ideology, the emotional appeal, and/or the propaganda. Many of them grew to regret their decisions to get involved with the Nazi party and movement. Some of them actually did some things to help people. But all Nazi true believers WERE evil!

3

This is probably where I offend a lot of people.
I do not like aggression, oppression, inequality and such.
I would not go to war in another country,
but if my country were invaded I would fight to the end to protect it, my friends and family, in fact all my fellow countrymen.
Martin Niemƶller (1892ā€“1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
Niemƶller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:
Too many people do nothing to stop wrong things from happening, too apathetic.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak outā€”
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak outā€”
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak outā€”
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for meā€”and there was no one left to speak for me.

Another problem I have is when I see all of the "refugees" flooding through Europe, they appear to be predominantly young healthy males. Where are the old, frail, female and children? And why aren't these guys fighting for their countries and families?
Isis, Nazis they seem pretty similar to me, and in neither case does there seem to have been much resistance on their home turf. The biggest problem we have in Australia in solving our problems is people just don't give a shit as long as they are not inconvenienced themselves.

Niemoller's quote is quite famous. It could happen here with trump. The Pubs are marching in step w herr trump to rid this country of DACA.

I've found that most Australians just don't care about any big world problems. As long as the sun shines on the beaches and the beers cold, that's job done in their books.

Also I completely agree with you. Why aren't the young men fighting the ISIS marauders? Reason is simple, because the Iraqi's no longer have a military that can defeat them, because America destroyed it when they went looking for WMD's and the men they trained up afterwards didn't have the same discipline, they ran from the enemy because they saw a scary youtube video. Men who will not die for their country should not belong to that country nor any other country. They should be exiled and labelled untouchables.

Not to be confused with men who are just trying to travel with their families to take care of them. I can respect those men, but the ones who leave their families behind, that's disgusting.

'Men who will not die for their country....'
I have a huge problem with this -even if we ignore the sexism
People are often sent to fight in other people's countries rather than there own. Also which bit of the country is mine? I'm a poor fella. I don't own any of this country and neither do most of my friends and the people I work with. Very often the people that do own the country are not the ones sending their son's and daughters to fight - the send poor people's kids off to fight other poor people's kids.
A friend of mine fought in the Falklands war and, to this day, is upset that captured Argentinians were just young boys(around 18) and were armed with British weapons that were sold to the Argentinian Army by the British.

1

Machiavelli: "the state must maintain enemies outside its borders--whether real or imagined". We regrettably benefit from the horrors from the past.

0

The Nazis were evil. The soldiers that fought against the allies were not all Nazis. Not everyone voted for Hitler and just like a vast majority of Americans did not vote for Trump, there were many Germans who despised him. The Nazis used propaganda to spread hatred and divide the nation while promising a strong country. Germany first- sound familiar- Most of the German civilians did not know of the atrocities committed by the Nazis. The gestapo kept an eye on anyone they suspected of not supporting them. People lived in fear and when they were given jobs- building the German war machine- they were content and did not ask questions. The majority of the soldiers thought that they were defending the homeland. If we in the United states forget about history, we might repeat that atrocity.

But the Americans did vote for Trump? They were just underrepresented in the media because most people who voted for Trump are too busy working to earn a living so they don't have time to vote on popularity on Facebook.

The fact that Trump won means that the majority voted for him, that's how people get elected.

@Lancer the electoral college is why he win. He lost the. majority vote.

0

Nazi was a party... so for the sake of this discussion... did you ever served on a republican army? How about a democratic navy? You talk about our allies the ruskies being rapists... Didn't americans did raping in Vietnam? War is an ugly business started by men claiming to be with clean hands. When my son joined the USAF... I told him "Do not hate your enemy... Your enemy today is going to be your friend tomorrow and your friend today will be your enemy tomorrow." I spent 20 years in the Navy training only with one purpose in mind, beat the hell of the soviet navy. I retired in the year 2000 and moved from Germany to DC and because I moved on dance circuits I realized that Maryland was full of russians. First GF russian, Second GF in partnership with 2 russian couples. And there was this lady from Ukraine dear to my heart. I learned the real meaning of the USSR and that Ukrainians were not and never been russians neither people from Belarus. So I can defend all day that not every german was nazi, not all germans knew what was going on but instead I will tell you what lesson I learned in 1982 during a Mediterranean Cruise and a 6 week stay in the Skaramangas shipyard, not far from Athens. In the shipyard was a ussr ship, soviets sailors and american sailors shared greek beers and ouzo despite not speaking each other language... that military was no different than ours. Harder for them because they go on liberty with a political officer in charge of where they go and what they do. I am glad my son returned in one piece from his volunteer security tour in Afghanistan... I am also grateful that my nephew Louie did two tours in Iraq and came back in one piece also. The author of the post seems to be from UK so they have their beef with Germany... An american said "The only good indian is a dead indian". Let us not forget how america was built from the ground up. "Was there any good white americans in the Indian Wars?" How about the delio of england and spain and their empires all over the world? The greed for colonies as far away as possible if they were of the right wrong color of course. example: Filipines, India. My honest and humble take.

@Marcus_Angelus well japanese had invaded Hawaii and Manhattan island now. And about that liberation... Let me tell how Puerto Rico in its way to own liberation from the Spanish got "liberated" by the americans to become a "bounty of war from the spanish-american war". They said they came to liberate us.... and arrived in 1898... Still have not left.

Just for the record, I'm Australian. Also I don't hate the Germans, I've heard bad things about them when there are lots of young men in large groups but that's normal for all cultures. Young men will be rowdy.

In reality, the first Germans I met were lovely people and had a fantastic sense of humor, much better than the average Aussie one anyway.

I have no prejudices against any nation, the idea of that is completely absurd. I mean I'm of mixed race and in school kids would bully me for my eyes being small. Jokes on them, mixed race just means two times the good food for dinner at home. I would never be racist to anyone because it makes no sense to judge a person based on their peoples mistakes.

I am open minded and support diversity as long as everyone can share the same values or near enough.

Also the Japanese were pretty bad in WW2, like wiping out entire villages, human experimentation, use of biological weapons, torture techniques, barbarism. They were bad, but there's no point in judging the modern Japanese for the crimes of their ancestors. Just like there's no point in blaming the current Australians for the stolen generations of Aboriginals.

@Lancer Thanks to clarify everything except from all political parties in the world your choice was to single out nazis, despite the fact of japanese army been worse than german army when occupying. But you reminded the germans of their nazi heritage while you gave a pass to japanese or to ancestors of current australians... I don't hear bad things about nazis anymore but here you are reminding us. I had lived in a German city were there is not a single building dated previous to WW2. I know the reasons why. But you bring "lots of young men in large groups" is that a young men thing now... let's get together, girls excluded and bash the nazis from the previous century? Why you single out the nazis? Or are the nazis the lots of young men in large groups as if happen in america? You know any Nazis? Not asking Germans... Nazis.

I understood your point with the parties separate to the military. I didn't think it was worth pointing out something obvious.

Also I do not judge anybody based on the mistakes of their ancestors. I don't have any prejudice towards Germans, Japanese, English, Chinese or any race.

The young men thing was referring to how when mainly boys and not girls, get into a large group (say 20+ people) they generate a mob mentality. They go out, get drunk and attack people or damage property on the streets. That's just a fact.

Also in my example I was talking about how young German men would get together and go around Europe being mischievous. Not people bashing Germans, the other way around.

There aren't many Nazi's these days. Some exist in Russia, America, Australia. but they aren't any real threat. The real threat is far worse than anyone can imagine and I'm hoping I won't be standing around when it really gets bad.

@Lancer Things are getting a little uncomfortable around the world... USA not an exception and the first victim died in Charlottesville that happened to be a college town. We need to face them face to face. The british football hooligans been doing it around europe for many years creating havoc but now is a political agenda of a minority with a culture of destruction. I won't say eye for an eye... but I can see fire with fire. Those guys were doing a lot of chest pumping here and they were met with the same attitude they displayed. They don't do much doing now days but we can't drop our guard. Once we helped to the destruction of ussr... we dropped our guard and look at russia now? With their puppet in the white house. Not funny. I still believe in law and order... not a lover of anarchy for the sake of being an anarchist.

@GipsyOfNewSpain I can sympathize with what you are saying about the world and there are many problems that we face. The human race is still too young, the people still too blind to see the true enemy. It isn't Trump or Putin, not Right or Left wing. There is something going on that we don't understand.

That's why I've been researching the meaning and purpose of life, to try and find a solution. But any new solution won't be without a cost.

The minorities and their conflicts between each other are just a distraction. History as we know it has been rewritten in order to maintain the idea that our governments are for the people when we know this is a lie. That's why everybody wanted to get Trump elected, to break the cycle and that has disturbed the plans of the people who are in charge. It's no surprise that they control the media, they have infected the minds of our young children so that they can be used as proxy soldiers for an engineered conflict.

Humans will be humans, which is why they cannot control their base urges, their desire for immediate gratification. Traditional values have died and that has resulted in a catastrophic devolution of our people. We are no longer on the road to progress, we have grown lazy and our evolution has stagnated. We need to get back on track, not for our sake but for the sake of the future.

This probably doesn't make much sense but one day it will. One day.

@Lancer I had always believe that as long there is money and the means to greed, lust and amass money... we will be in the mess we are.

Agreed. But you know what they say. One mans junk is another mans treasure. It's all a matter of perspective.

We need money to an extent in order to let society function. But even if we equally distributed the wealth of the world to everyone. Within 20 years the rich and poor would resume their original positions.
I've seen poor Australians. They weren't poor because they didn't work hard. They were poor because they gambled their money every day. Whatever they earnt was spent on booze and betting. So even if we say that the rich are taking people's money, the other side is that the poor are squandering what they have (at least in australias case)

@Lancer You have to remove the incentive. That is why communism only will work in a wold without capitalism. Only way will work.

We can't. People only work if they can see a goal at the end of their labour. The majority of people are instinctive, they operate on a work and reward mentality.

The only way communism would work is if we had a way of consistently producing 2nd generation advanced humans. I am one but millions of people are not.

That's why communism fails. Not only are the people of too low a quality, but so are the people running the system. Until we can evolve we cannot use communism.

I know human beings cannot be reasoned with. They are illogical beings as per their design. That's why I'm working to find a solution to this. I want humanity to evolve into something better. But the system works on the principle of equilibrium. If you try to change it then it opposes the change.

We can't install communism, not yet.

I think you have a bit too much faith in humanity my friend. China is currently engaged in ethnic cleansing of it's muslim population since they are a problem in the north west. But I don't see the point in nuclear war. Who profits?

In saying that, the UK is updating its nuclear arsenal, I was approached by a recruiter about a graduate position in a nuclear weapons company.

Also you're right about china. They are sourcing resources from every country but themselves. Because when the oil runs out, china will sell it back to us at ridiculous prices.

3

I'm a cultural Jew who probably had family killed by Nazis. Its not whether they were all evil-many turned away and let their neighbors be dragged from their homes, humiliated, herded like cattle into freight cars, tortured, gassed and cremated remains. I have seen those remains, teeth, glasses, hair, gold wedding rings, children's toys all stored in warehouses by Nazis. Many Gemans knew what was going on and they did nothing. They moved into the homes of the Jews that were disposed off, they were greedy to receive stolen valuables. They worked in the camps-people living in towns ignored what was going on in the concentration camps. You can't tell me they weren't as guilty as the Nazis. You can't tell me trump isn't the new Hitler!

I loved your whole story, I too have Jewish relatives in the Netherlands who told me many stories. But how does that equate to Trump being the new Hitler at the end??? That makes no sense to me. Was Hitler not a complete psychopath and madman who murdered and tortured millions of innocent people. He was directly responsible for the construction of death camps where people were herded (like you said) in like cattle and simply disposed of like they were nothing. My stomach curdles just thinking about it. Whatever you think of Trump, he is not another Hitler. I think though we don't have to look far for someone who has the potential to be like Hitler, Kim Jong Un. I can see him killing lots of innocent people, indeed he has already killed 340 people since coming into power. [news.com.au]

trump wants only white immigrants-wants to change the racial makeup of the US-that is how Hitler started. Scapegoating Muslims, Afro-Americans. Shithole countries-Africa is a country-what an ignorant piece of shit. Master fucking race is what trump wants.

So Trump is racist for wanting qualified immigrants to come into the country? I didn't know "qualified person" was a race.

But seriously, if you were a good German in WW2, do you think that you could fight the entire might of the German army? Do you have the strength of a batallion? Skin stronger than a Tank's armour?

because no body could have stopped the Germans from doing what they did, otherwise the same would have happened to them.

The point I was making, which you seemed to miss. Is that even if there were Germans who wanted to help, they couldn't. Because anyone who was caught would be disposed of. What good does it do to let more people die for the sake of morality? It's insane. If all of the Jews, christians or muslims were being rounded up in my neighbourhood then I wouldn't do anything. It isn't my fight, it's theirs. If they won't fight for their lives then why should I?

More death was not the answer. Trying to rescue Jews is as risky as saying "Hi, i'm your enemy Germans" and they would kill you on site. Leaving more families fatherless or motherless. It solves nothing. Unless you have an armed resistance then you cannot do anything to save anyone.

This is why herr trump and Pubs must be stopped. It could happen. Need to stop him now-thats my point. Don't worry won't ask you to save others. What are u going to do when they come for you?

@Lancer The Point you grossly miss is How many assassination attempts on hitler during a 10 year period? from 1934 to 1944? 26. Twenty Six and those just the documented ones by history. Yeah to you maybe they are "Fake News". To you hollywood got it wrong in "Valkyrie". To you the greatest german general died of wounds in battle and not in his house by a pill provided by 2 Gestapo officers, I am talking about Rommel, the desert fox. If you or when you visit Germany, you won't find a single monument to hitler but you will find a monument to those involved in the last known act... July 20th 1944 attempt. Maybe you think is also fake news what happened to his lacky "il duce mussolini" and his family. You can find pictures of the whole family hanging. Hindsight is 20/20. Never doubt that to every MotherFucker of this World a Resistance was Available and Willing to do what was deemed necessary.
[en.wikipedia.org]
You should had done some research before using the phrase.... "What can they do?"

@GipsyOfNewSpain that just proves my point. 26 unsuccessful assassination attempts means an extra 26 dead for no reason. They were failed deaths, wasted lives. They were arrogant and they paid the price.
Also seeing as Germany was not allowed to publish any of their historical documents from before 1945 until 2099. I think something is up with that, why not let us see the German side of the story, because maybe there is some "Factual" information that we were missing. Or should we just believe a nation that committed genocide over 5 times in its history and its other ally, the arms dealer of the world? That seems very moral and ethical to me, I always trust gun runners, drug dealers and racists. (sarcasm).

@sassygirl3869 What I believe in is peace, I don't go looking for fights. If the Germans came into my town and took all of the Jews, unless one of my friends were Jewish, I would not lift a finger to help them. I am not self righteous, I am not a hero of any sort. I know when I have no chance of winning and I will not throw my life away for a people who have nothing to do with me.
Also in the event that the German army did come for me, I would simply kill them. Until a time comes where my enemy is made clear, I will not endanger the lives of my family for the sake of another family. The point is, you have 2 choices. Live quietly under a regime or risk your family's lives and fight for a cause. Because if you fight for a cause then you are just making an excuse to take life. If you fight for your family then you are defending them and any murder is justified.

Jews turned in many jews if they thought they will be safe. I give the uneducated german the benefit of the doubt that believed, they were simply re-located. We americans did not knew the extent of the cleansing until We arrived and saw the camps and got hold of the Records. (Because no nation keep records like germans). Example living there the city Volkshaus wanted to know were was my trash? How come Apt 8 did not produced trash? They were heavily into re-cycling and you tip handsomely your trash collector at the end of the year. I was told in the base to bring your trash to the base to avoid the "Big Tip". So I did. Many German didn't knew just like many emigrant arriving to a New York port did not knew they would be heading West to a "free" land taken away from slaughtered natives americans. I know the blindfolding blinker of Greed is as large as the blindfold of ignorance.

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