President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

You just never want to get into a snotty put-down contest with the French. Centuries of practice make a difference.

 

c'est vrai!

 

Waiting for them to tweet this at trump

 

Now I get it, he's a shitbag for telling the truth. I didn't see that the first time. Got it.

 

Definitely. Stalin was the ultimate opportunist. Let's not forget that the Soviets were allied with the Germans at the start of World War II. Also, the Soviets conveniently didn't enter the front against Japan until it was clear the Japanese were defeated. The Soviets got in there just in time to collect the spoils.

 

You are not a particularly bright individual are you?

 

He's the target audience for Ubu's tweets.

 

"Well, you would be spelling color with a u and speaking English if it wasn't for Lafayette!" -- Macron

 

I'm sure they would have, but the Soviets were in NO position to do so.

In one of the most prescient things ever uttered by a world leader, Stalin said the following in February 1931:
"We are 50 to 100 years behind the advanced countries of the West. We must make up this gap in 10 years. Either we do this or they crush us."

And once that massive undertaking was under way, Stalin still needed to buy time. He knew Germany was going to attack, but he was convinced it would be no earlier than 1942. And he wanted to use every second of time he could. Thus, there were to be zero provocations against the Nazis, nothing that they could even interpret the wrong way, lest they turn their attention to the Soviet Union before the Red Army was ready. Not even reports of German reconnaissance planes and troops massing near the Russian border were met with any kind of resistance.

The Soviets believed for much of the war that a Japanese invasion was imminent. Despite the heavy losses they sustained at the hands of the Nazis, they had dozens of Siberian divisions idle, waiting for Japan to strike. Only when it was 100 percent certain that the Japanese would not attack could the Soviets unleash these divisions on the Nazis.

The Soviets "conveniently" didn't enter the front against Japan until it was clear that the GERMANS were defeated and all scores were settled in the West. They were task No. 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d and 1e. Defending your motherland > fighting somewhere else.

And maybe it wasn't so certain Japan was defeated . . . UNTIL the Soviets entered the fray.

Soviets declare war on Japan; invade Manchuria

 

Some trains never run late. Excellent pull.

 

At Yalta, Stalin promised FDR he'd declare war on Japan three months after Germany surrendered. Promise kept almost to the day, but the day was after Hiroshima, so it's overlooked.

 

Now do the Soviet invasion of Finland.

And Poland.

And Ribbintrop - Molotov and the "spheres of influence."