At a high level I am astonished at the lack of respect here for the dangers of war. I'm a peacenick? I'm a fan of the Russians? Some of you guys really stun me. I remember going into the popular bars on Friday evening and seeing the guys in wheel-chairs. Friends. Stock market is slightly dangerous, but only financially. I have my charts. I act accordingly. Everybody here has a method, does the same. But stocks are NOT nearly as dangerous as a military war. War is danger to the max. So, for the Pro-War people here, how good are you at handling "Danger to the Max"? If you have no answer for that, you have no business being Pro-War.
In addition, U.S. was able to prevail in WWII. One of the major reasons for that was U.S. financial position. Ten years after the 1929 crash, most of the debt had been removed. Compared to today ? U.S. doesn't have cash to pay Social Security, but we should spend Billions fighting Putin? WTF. Nobody is thinking.
Ever heard of the Munich Agreement? Appeasement they called it. Hitler given a chunk of Czekoslovakia in exchange for peace... A bit like Putin taking a chunk of Ukraine and expecting peace.
Dealing in "Statecraft" (what the Secy of State does) is like dealing with family relations. Very difficult to understand unresolved issues from decades ago. That's in the best case. And in the worst case, decision makers are pressured by other domestic issues (price of gas, elections, etc). At which point the "foreign policy" becomes a patchwork of ideas. "A mule is a horse designed by a committee". Can we afford to try that?
War mongers: Within weeks of FDR's famous speech on Dec 8, 1941, German submarines (U-Boats) were attacking the East Coast of the U.S. Anti-submarine batteries were installed along the coast. Some can still be seen, southeast Delaware, and Cape May New Jersey. In just the first half of 1942 U-Boat sank nearly 1,000 cargo ships in U.S waters. There were no U-Boat sinkings confirmed. But recently one was confirmed (off South Carolina ?) a few years ago. Did North Vietnamese ever bomb our East Coast? Has Putin attacked the U.S. anywhere?
%% NO wonder LBJ died younger\ died early\heart attack, shortly after Rich Nixon's landslide victory 1973. No wonder the talking snake media hated [r] Nixon from the get go Frankly ,even though my banker dad never put up with foul language; I got more out of LBJ[yellow cover] book\ Fromthe Pit To the PC. He later gradated from mostly daytrading
LIke they way Murray, "History is written by the winners". But I'll tell ya. That swearing-in photo of LBJ looks like he's ordering a cup of coffee. Something big is missing here: Just need to add, in late 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, and INTEL was very very likely aware of the huge submarine pens in Western France. Military people would call that a high level "Pincer movement". Axis powers attack the U.S from both East and West. Textbook military. In that regard, WWII was in a completely different category from all the U.S. military adventures since.
Let's keep events in chronological order please. Munich was 1938, long before America finally joined the war in 1941, and only because of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Yes, it was difficult to convince Americans to fight in Europe. Fighting Hitler or Stalin was the hangup. Plenty of Nazi sympathizers in America and many more anti bolcheviks. In the meantime, concentration camps were being built all over conquered lands and extermination camps started gazing around the time the US president decided that Japan had to pay for their affront.
Hey Vic - are you sure about that. Japan attacks on Dec 7. FDR declares war on Dec 8. And then there's a dozen German U-Boats shelling the East coast four weeks later. You really don't think that U.S. INTEL didn't know German aggression was dead ahead. Churchill certain knew about it (documented) and he certainly told FDR about it (documented). Churchill was in a very bad way regarding Hitler's regime. And he wanted all the company he could get. Make sense. What does Munich in 1938 have to do with it. U-boat observation towers (circa early 1942), southern Delaware: