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Everyone Owes Us

Posted by Herb7734 7 years, 5 months ago to History
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It appears to me, that at one time or another, every advanced nation on earth borrowed from us (USA) at one time or another. Let us take, for example some statistics that I came across while reading about World War 2 recovery act, the lend-lease program, which, by the way has never been paid back: The following to (Guess who?) Russia, alone: For four years we were allies against a common enemy and as a result we shipped 100 million tons of woolen and cotton goods, plus fifteen million pairs of leather boots, four million rubber tires, two thousand railroad locomotives, eleven thousand freight cars, fifteen thousand airplanes, seven thousand tanks, all free. Remember, we have never been at war with Russia even when it was the Soviet Union. There was some humor in all this, when Russia requested condoms, all 18 inches long, America sent over several thousand marked "medium." Trump is right when he asks for others to pay their fair share. We are not only the most generous, but the most taken advantage of. nation in history.


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  • Posted by 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Plus, FDR wanted desperately to go to the aid of his pal, Winston which is why, even though he knew of Japan's prep to attack Pearl, way back in January of '41. he did nothing about it. He knew it would get us into WW2. which he wanted.(You gentlemen will be so kind as to give up your lives -- from from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand)
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  • Posted by LWinn 7 years, 5 months ago
    Thanks Herb. That's an outstanding contribution to my day.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    If the US government actually cared about their actions being constitutional.
    However differences between the form of government was not what I referred to as petty, and I agree that the US constitution bears no resemblance to government in Russia.
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  • Posted by Owlsrayne 7 years, 5 months ago
    My father was a Merchant Marine Chief Engineer during WW2 on a number of liberty ships and victory cargo ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean in partial to full convoys. U Boats were hunting them. Those American built ships were loaded with rolling stock, rails and timber to Murmansk, Stalin was able to rebuild the Soviet Union rail lines that were destroyed by the Nazis.
    They owe us big time. Maybe, Putin should be reminded about that part of history of WW2.
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  • Posted by rhfinle 7 years, 5 months ago
    Please someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard that the only country to come to our aid, since the Revolution, was Mexico, which sent troops in to assist our National Guard after Hurricane Katrina. It makes you wonder who your friends are.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I now recall that song but was not thinking about it when I wrote the above.
    Consciously, no. Subconsciously? Kinda looks that way.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    If you think you have been misunderstood, then tell me where or how that misunderstanding has been propagated. Don't just call names or complain: do something proactive to further the discussion. Provide me with some facts to show me what I'm missing. Show me how I'm misinterpreting the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Show me how the Russians would have prevailed against the Germans without the supplies from England and America. Show me why Russia's behavior (supporting Hitler) from 1938-1941 can be so easily ignored. Even more, show me why Russia's behavior from 1945-1948 can also be ignored (when Russia was creating the Soviet Bloc).

    I'm looking at the entire balance sheet - not cherry-picking individual accounts. I invite you to do the same.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    You debunked nothing. You misunderstood everything I posted and then acknowledge only history of WW1 that supports your argument. Waste of time trying to discuss when you already know it all. Now on ignore,
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  • Posted by $ blarman 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    You contended that the rest of the world owes Russia for their efforts during WW II. I debunked that argument in great detail. What you wrote was factually inaccurate in many instances. I even provided sources. The truth is what the truth is: that it is inconvenient to your argument/narrative is not my problem.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I understand. If you dropped the DC gang into Moscow with knowledge of Russian language and customs they would do just fine although the competition would be significant.
    However, in my view, it was the USSR that kept the DC gang contained. When the USSR failed the gang was free to oppress the people of the US. A space controlled by the DC gang would be just as bad as one controlled by any other dictator. The only relief is that space is big enough for liberty to continue somewhere, but we have to get started colonizing. Continuing to have petty disagreements with Russia (and others) on Earth wastes the resources that can advance exploration of space and a re-ignition of individual liberty and free markets.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    No point in continuing a discussion where you don't read what I write, and just create what you want to argue against, all the while contradicting one argument with another. Not worth my time.
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 7 years, 5 months ago
    It is interesting that Ayn Rand always (or nearly
    always) put the words "liberals" and "conservatives"
    in quotes.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "Russia had no part in the Versailles treaty and had lost 1.3 million sq miles of its territory, and 50% of its industrial capacity, in its treaty with Germany ending its part in WW1."

    Uh, that was because Russia signed a treaty giving that all away. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_... and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_.... Because of the infighting resulting from the Bolshevik Revolution, the Russians couldn't defend their borders nor could they pay the German/Austrian alliance their debts. So they ceded territory in exchange. That's not the fault of the British, French, or Americans nor is anything "due" the Russians for these actions.

    Prior to WW II, Russia had been warned by Churchill directly for years even preceding Churchill's crown appointment as Prime Minister. Churchill warned Stalin that Hitler wouldn't be satisfied because even his own nation (Great Britain) had failed to stand up to Hitler before hostilities broke out. Churchill also warned Stalin that the Fascists had no love for the Communists - a fact even Stalin's own ambassador reported back to him on more than one occasion prior to the 1941 invasion.

    Did the Russian Red Army tie up a majority of Hitler's associated forces on the Eastern Front for much of 1942-1944? Yes. And that was Hitler's decision as much as anything else. Hitler hated communism even more than he hated the British. And if Hitler had left the military to prosecute the war, they very likely would have taken Stalingrad, driven through to Moscow, and ended Russia's participation in the war right there. His decision to attack Stalingrad in winter with supply problems and a force consisting of second-rate troops was a huge military blunder and it cost him the war. It was the very disaster that would have happened to the British if not for the miraculous evacuation at Dunkirk of more than 400,000 of Britain's front-line forces.

    I would also point out the extreme efforts both the US and British went through - with zero compensation - to keep Russia in the war at all. Without the arms and supplies sent by the British at great loss of life and from their own war stockpiles to Archangel, Russian didn't have the equipment or raw materials to prosecute the war. There was also the supply line running through Iran and the Black Sea - again courtesy of the British (with American supplies) - pushing materials through for that portion of the front. British Spitfires and Hurricanes and American Sherman tanks were fighting on Russia's front lines.

    I think the facts very much dispute the notion that Russia is "owed' by either the US or Britain for its efforts in WW II - especially in light of their early behavior in the war to side with the Nazis.
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  • Posted by mia767ca 7 years, 5 months ago
    I recommend you read "Creature from Jekyll Island"...our own politicians have been complicit in the transfer of wealth out of the U.S. for decades...
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    No, merely said that Churchill reports based upon his agenda, just as politicians and historians often have.
    You have to go back to WW1 to have insight into Russia's actions regarding Germany prior to the German invasion of Russia in 1941. Russia had no part in the Versailles treaty and had lost 1.3 million sq miles of its territory, and 50% of its industrial capacity, in its treaty with Germany ending its part in WW1. Russia was ill prepared and unwilling to take on and lose to Germany again until they were invaded by Germany. After that they fought and millions died. England and America are indebted to the Russians as a result.
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  • Posted by TheOldMan 7 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Correct, I missed your excellent description of the second part. The Reds were happy to let the SS clear out the resistance because they certainly did not want anyone around who knew how to conduct clandestine warfare; they already had their preferred Commies ready to take control of the government.
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