Posted on 05/21/2008 6:49:34 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Last week we noted the bizarre arguments of Seattle Times editorial writer Bruce Ramsey, who tried so hard to defend Barack Obama against President Bush’s “appeasement” speech that he actually ended up defending Hitler for annexing Austria. His exact words were: “What Hitler was demanding was not unreasonable.”
If you think that’s an ahistorical pretzel of monumental proportions, though, you ain’t seen nothin’ — because here comes Pat Buchanan. According to old Pat, not only was the Anchluss not a problem, Hitler’s invasion of Poland was also perfectly understandable, given the Poles’ refusal to negotiate.
Those darned stubborn Poles were responsible for starting World War II, according to Pat: Bush Plays the Hitler Card.
German tanks, however, did not roll into Poland until a year later, Sept. 1, 1939. Why did the tanks roll? Because Poland refused to negotiate over Danzig, a Baltic port of 350,000 that was 95 percent German and had been taken from Germany at the Paris peace conference of 1919, in violation of Wilson’s 14 Points and his principle of self-determination.
Hitler had not wanted war with Poland. He had wanted an alliance with Poland in his anti-Comintern pact against Joseph Stalin.
But the Poles refused to negotiate. Why? Because they were a proud, defiant, heroic people and because Neville Chamberlain had insanely given an unsolicited war guarantee to Poland. If Hitler invaded, Chamberlain told the Poles, Britain would declare war on Germany.
From March to August 1939, Hitler tried to negotiate Danzig. But the Poles, confident in their British war guarantee, refused. So, Hitler cut his deal with Stalin, and the two invaded and divided Poland.
The cost of the war that came of a refusal to negotiate Danzig was millions of Polish dead, the Katyn massacre, Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz, the annihilation of the Home Army in the Warsaw uprising of 1944, and 50 years of Nazi and Stalinist occupation, barbarism and terror.
i never did like pat pukannan
and this substantiates it.
Ping.
Give Pat a break, someone has to defend Hitler’s attack on Poland. Poles were a little better than Jews, deserving of enslavement rather than death, but that’s about it.
Amazing. So, Pat thinks that if only the Poles had given up Danzig, Herr Hitler would have tended his garden quietly, painted some water colors, and stood as a bulwark against Bolshevism? Just as Barry is thinking, “If only those stubborn Israelis would go back to the 1967 borders.” Troublesome Poles, stubborn Israelis, darn those people who refuse to negotiate at gunpoint.
GAS BAG PAT ALERT!
Pat is impossible to defend when he says things like this. He still thinks Hitler would have been no problem to the US if he had taken Russia. Never the mind their planes would have been in striking distance of North American cities.
Don't tempt me. I could end up doing time. ;)
Hmmmmm.... Pat makes Hitler look like a good guy.
Of course, by his logic, we should give LA back to Mexico.
Pat Buchanan is a not so crypto-nazi.
Der fuhrer never called anybody baby bump
Pat Buchanan is a discruntled pedant who never recovered from the collapse of his brief flicker of fame as another “maverick” presidential candidate.
Unbelieveable revisionist history, to say that the Polish refusal to negotiate with Hitler caused World War 2 and the loss of millions of lives and destruction of much of Europe.
History shows us that Hitler had made many other demands and moves previous to that. Among those were:
militarization of the Rhineland
occupation of Austria
occupation of the Sudetenland(sp) in Czechoslovakia(sp)
occupation of the remainder of Czechoslovakia
By the time Hitler wanted Danzig, it appeared that there was no end to his demands, and that a line had to be drawn somewhere. His invasion of Poland confirmed that he would simply use force if anyone tried to stop him.
Granted, at the time, some thought negotiations with Hitler could avoid war. Neville Chamberlain thought so. But in the hindsight of the history of World War 2, it seems laughable for someone to say, if only Poland had done this or that, the war and bloodshed and disaster would have been averted. In dealing with a madman such as Hitler, it’s doubtful that the war could have been avoided. If Poland had indeed given up Danzig, the war would simply have started over another territory.
Why of course not. It would be silly to assume that just because he invaded Poland meant he wanted war. We all know how much Hitler loved peace and hated war. < /s>
Honestly, I think both Jimmy Carter and Pat Buchanan are suffering from age-related dementia, and that certain sinister operatives are shrewdly taking advantage of this.
Theoretically, the Poles could have jumped in bed with AH, joined in the attack on USSR and been OK. In reality, this was not an option.
The Polish nation was too large and powerful to allow an independent existence, given Nazi racial obsessions. This can readily be seen by the fact that Poland was the only conquered country where no puppet regime was allowed to exist.
In the Nazi mind, Poland had to be destroyed, not subjugated.
Pat lost all his marbles.
We haven't? I've not been there in a while.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.