Europe Model Welfare State that American Liberals love can't sustain itself!

[Plane]

If the Soviet effort had been as well run as the American Army they might not have lost more territory during the war than anyone else.  The Soviet soldier was incredibly tough but very poorly led and supplied, a lot of their worth was wasted .

  You could argue that strategic retreat is a winning strategy when there is plenty of ground to give up and other circumstances are improving...

But.. Stalin specifically forbade retreat in any form , and ran the war like an idiot. The purges that he had just conducted prior to the invasion of the USSR didn't only get rid of officers that had disloyalty , it also got rid of officers with good education and spine.

    The Russian weather did more to defeat the Nazis than the Soviet leadership , what would the Soviet situation have been if operation Barbarossa had been carried on with twice the amount of aircover and many more soldiers on the ground?  If the RAF had not done so well during the earlier Battle of Briton, the Nazis would have not needed to leave so much airforce west of this action, and would not have needed so many soldiers left in France .  So the damage done to the USSR early in the invasion was reduced by the RAF than it was by the Soviet Army.

     Why did WWI promote rabid nationalism and WWII brought it down?

[Xavier_Onassis]

After WWI the mantra was that empires caused the war and should be abolished. Every nationality should have its own country.
This evolved into rabid nationalism, Italian empire building and then German empire building.
Fascism and Nazism were the syntheses of Empires and nationalism. WWII demonstrated that this would result in the destruction of the continent, because that was what it did. The new syntheses was that countries should ally themselves of their own free will and economically, rather than politically. That is what the EU is. a free economic alliance in which no nation gets to claim superiority over any other.

Action-> reaction -> syntheses.  That is the way history functions.

[Christians4LessGvt]

The new syntheses was that countries should ally themselves of their own free will and economically, rather than politically.
 That is what the EU is. a free economic alliance in which no nation gets to claim superiority over any other.

And this IN MY OPINION is what fuels our open border policy.
This is the reason there are more than 20 million illegals in our counrty.
This is the reason you hear "Press 1 For English" more now than ever.

The Oligarchy years ago decided that there is no way the citizens of the US would vote in a "EU like" system for the US/Central America.
So the way around the vote is to flood the US with illegals for a few decades and "Central America-ize" many parts of the US.
There are parts of Dallas that resemble Central America already.
So if you can't win at the ballot box the Oligarchy makes it work without a vote.

The Oilgarchy foresees a day when the US, Central America, and probably Canada are like an EU zone.

[Xavier_Onassis]

There is no "Open Border Policy". Just walk into Mexico and try to get back into the US without going through the Border checkpoints. I bet you cannot do it. I bet you realize that this is so difficult that you will not even bother to try.

Observe the traffic that comes across from both directions at McAllen or Laredo. How would you manage to shut that border so that no one gets through?

Not even the Volkspolizei in East Germany ever successfully sealed the border between the two Germanies.

[sirs]

You continuously & purposely try to blurr legal vs illegal entry into this country.  Once you can get your head around the difference, you'll be able to be taken more seriously, on this topic.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The legal traffic is immense, and consists of many containers on semi trailers, far too many for customs to inspect each one.
There is no "Open Border Policy" At any given moment there will be a line of people seeking visas several blocks long in from of every American Consulate in Latin America. There is a large fee that must be paid to apply for a visitor's visa, over $150 US. If the visa is denied, the consulate keeps the money and the applicant gets nothing.

People pay as much as $3000 to get smuggled into the US. If there were "Open Borders", no one would waste that much money.

[sirs]

And legal immigration is perfectly rational to discuss compared to illegal immigration, to which Cu4 was eluding to, as it relates to the "open borders" twits

And under the current circumstances, of both increased terrorist activity + a potenally fatal pandemic virus, that comes from outside of this country, makes enforcing our borders THAT MUCH MORE IMPORTANT, vs the nonsense of open borders and trying to make it even easier to get into this country

[Xavier_Onassis]

This country does not have open borders. That is crap.

[sirs]

Professor literal strikes again     

[Plane]

Action-> reaction -> syntheses.  That is the way history functions.

  I don't think that " History" functions. History is actually mindless, only God could know .

  Sometimes large groups or even populations reach consensus, but the learning curve on large populations is ridiculously long.

I do not agree with your evaluation of the European attitude at the end of WWI. The surviving empires cut up the properties of the expiring empires and remained just as Colonialist as ever.

   Empires are not separate from Nationalism, they overlap quite a bit.

After WWI the mantra was that empires caused the war and should be abolished. Every nationality should have its own country.
This evolved into rabid nationalism, Italian empire building and then German empire building.

Yes to the nationalism and the empire building, but do not leave out the Belgians, English, French and Soviets.
  How is this construed as the end of Imperialism?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Human history functions in a predictable way, just as moths function in a predictable way. Human beings are social animals and act with in parameters of their design. Nature is not entirely random, there are patterns.
If God knows the future, then we have no free will. We will only do what is already in God's mind. So if there is a supreme being, I choose to believe that he is as ignorant of the absolute future as I am.

Russia is the only country that is even remotely like an empire today,in that it has many nationalities that do not have the option of becoming independent.On the other hand, they do have elective self-governance, unlike the pre-WWI empires.

After WWI, the remaining empires  were England, Portugal  and France. I think Spain had some territory in Morocco it no longer has, and I think there were small Italian colonies in Libya and Somaliland.  The Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Empire was disbanded. Russia lost Poland, the Baltics and Finland.
The Empires in Europe were disbanded, other than the British in Ireland, which they gave up in 1921.

[Plane]

Human history functions in a predictable way, just as moths function in a predictable way. Human beings are social animals and act with in parameters of their design. Nature is not entirely random, there are patterns.

Interesting idea, but it doesn't seem to be true, Humans struggle and strive, history is mindless , unless there is God as a director.

If God knows the future, then we have no free will.

No this is a false dichotomy. If I understood you so well that I could predict you , that would not be  the same thing as controlling you, also if I were able to observe your behavior for all time and communicate across time this would give me knowledge of your choices without control of them. 

. We will only do what is already in God's mind. So if there is a supreme being, I choose to believe that he is as ignorant of the absolute future as I am..

What does this choice improve?  How does your choice influence what is true?

Russia is the only country that is even remotely like an empire today,in that it has many nationalities that do not have the option of becoming independent.On the other hand, they do have elective self-governance, unlike the pre-WWI empires..

Just wait until the Caliphate gets rolling, as an idea Imperialism isn't dying, Also China / Tibet.   

After WWI, the remaining empires  were England, Portugal  and France. I think Spain had some territory in Morocco it no longer has, and I think there were small Italian colonies in Libya and Somaliland.  The Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Empire was disbanded. Russia lost Poland, the Baltics and Finland.
The Empires in Europe were disbanded, other than the British in Ireland, which they gave up in 1921.

Why do the colonies outside of Europe count differently?

[Xavier_Onassis]

WWI was fought over European territory, which was important to Europeans. The overseas possessions were only important to the few who profited from importing and exporting from them.  Any disagreements were easily settled by  treaties, That was the reality of the times.

[sirs]

Any disagreements were easily settled by  treaties, That was the reality of the times.

You realize how tweaked a statement that is, correct?  Was there not a "treaty", following WWI, that specifically limited the size and weight of German Battleships??  Treaties are merely a piece of paper.  There is no obligation that a country adhere to one......unless there are serious and tangible military repercussions.  Simply holding your breath, stomping up & down, and saying "you're cheating.....you shouldn't do that", is going to accomplish squat

[Plane]

WWI was fought over European territory, which was important to Europeans. The overseas possessions were only important to the few who profited from importing and exporting from them.  Any disagreements were easily settled by  treaties, That was the reality of the times.

  Land grabs in Europe started again with the Treaty of Versailles which distributed some captured plums from the losers to the winners.

    Resentment of the Germans at the terms of this treaty was one of the factors that led to the repeat .

     Whatever Europe did  learn from WWI, they didn't learn to make good treaties.