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The Wrath

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I recently finished Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. At the end of my edition, there was an afterword, written by Shirer in 1990 (30 years after the original) in which he gives the opinion that, since WW2, the Germans have not changed much, and that the impending reunification of Germany could end up having more dire consequences for the world.

I talked about this with my dad, and he told me something that I had never heard before. He said that about 6 months after reunification (I was too young to know what was going on), Germany was already making a fresh border dispute with Poland, and that some newspapers toyed with the idea of German military aggression. Obviously, nothing came of it, but this was recent enough to show that Shirer's idea may still hold some water. What are the odds of Germany ever becoming an aggressive nation again?

On the same note, what are the odds of that happening with Japan?

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I really don't think Germany will be much of a problem now, but I have definately asked myself that same question and put some thought into it. I have been to Germany a few times, and it is actually one of my favorite countries to visit; I absolutely love being surrounded by the very fascinating culture, history, and it's newer cities that are almost futuristic.

While there, I have stayed with families and have had families come visit me here in America. Everyone from Germany that I've talked to about WWII becomes nervous to talk about it or too forceful in how much they dislike Nazis. They try very hard to serparate themselves from the Nazis in any way possible, almost too hard. At first it weirded me out how obssesive they are about it, but then you also need to keep in mind that you can be arrested for even slightly seeming like a Nazi, being in possession of a swastika, and possibly even being in contact with a Nazi. This can definately make someone obsessive about it whether they hate nazis of love them.

After getting to know a few of them personally, I have learned that most families still have all of their grandfathers or fathers war metals and gear locked away somewhere safe that they wont talk about. I think there is still some resonating pride in the past strength in the country, and the strength of specific family members that fought, but they would never put that into words around others. this still doesn't mean they follow the Nazi beliefs and I don't hold it against them. Even I can compliment and respect many of their military generals, tactics, speeches, and technologies brought about from that era; my beliefs contradict the Nazi's, I just make sure never to shut my eyes and turn away from something when you can really learn about it and learn something from it.

I really do think they are changing for the better, and their government has come a long way since WWII. But, I see how they could still have some followers of the old ways. A very good friend of mine was born in Germany and has a mother that is a Nazi, yet he is an Objecticvist (they try not to talk about their beliefs too much with eachother :D); not all people are smart enough to branch off and think for themselves, though.

Anyway, even though I think Germany will not go down that same path again, I can see how it is possible, no matter how unlikely. I'll give examples of what brought about these ideas, but remember I am not saying that I believe them to be true, just that I have seen how they could play out from learning about the country, and mapping out its possibilities in a fiction world in my mind :P --

They are very strict about making sure no one in the country seems like a Nazi. It's a cover up to bring other countries farther away from the idea of its possibility. Really, their love of Nazis is still there; it's still lingering in some of the government officials, workers, mothers, grandfathers. After WWII they were extremely weekend, and every year give out large amounts of money to other countries in apologies to what they did. This is again a cover up. They have actually found very smart ways to build up their strength while trying to lure away cautious eyes. An example of this is their military program. After WWII they were VERY limited in the amount of military they could have. So they set up a program that requires everyone at a certain age to join the military for a short while to go through some rigorous training to ready them for fighting, war, tactics etc . . . Then they leave the military and continue on with their lives. This makes sure their military numbers stay small, but if a problem were to arise, they could call to arms almost every citizen in the country - Millions!

I find the above path to make for a more interesting beginning to a fiction novel then the truth. I just wanted to throw out some ideas and possibilities to toy around with yourselves.

-Brando

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You make some good points. I agree with you that there were some respectable people in Germany, even in the WWII era. I think some of the generals (Halder and Rommel for instance) were basically good, honorable men who made the tragic error in moral judgement of waiting far too long to oppose the Nazis. Rommel attempted to redeem himself by being in on the attempt to assassinate Hitler, and Halder did the same in a number of ways. Although, I'm not sure if their objections to the Nazis were moral ones, so much as political and pragmatic ones. I don't know enough about either man to make that judgement.

In Bruce Bawer's, While Europe Slept, a book that I heartily recommend, he makes a couple of interesting arguments. One is that the reason that modern Europe is so obsessed with avoiding war at all costs is because of the World Wars and the Cold War. This probably seems like common sense, but it could also explain the pacification of Germany. And I know what you mean about people making a point to tell you how much they hate the Nazis. I once met a man from Russia. When I heard where he was from, I said "Oh, you're from Russia?" just as a conversation-mover, and he looked at me and said with a thick Russian accent, "What's wrong with Russia? I am not Communist. I love America and Ronald Reagan." It was like he was apologizing.

One thing I've thought of is that the reason Germany didn't become belligerent again is because the Allies kept a close eye on Germany for a much longer time than they did after WWI, and were convinced not to make the same mistakes. The reason the Nazis were able to take power was largely because WWI was fresh on the minds of the Germans, and the WWI generation still held a lot of sway over German society. By the time the Wall fell, the WWII generation had largely passed into retirement, and their replacements were a generation of people who grew up in the post-WWII era. Since Germany was administered by the Allies, I would imagine (though I admit, I don't know much about it), there was some major anti-nationalist propaganda and brainwashing going on.

Question on this subject: does anyone know anything about the situation with Poland, after the reunification? I'd like to hear more about that.

Another interesting proposal that Bruce Bawer makes regards the situation with radical Islam. With all the Muslim communities in Europe demanding autonomy, he thinks there will eventually be an overreaction. In addition, there have been recent events after the book was written that will further cause Europe to lose its patience: the riots in France, the Danish newspaper incident, this week's attempted terrorist attack in London, just to name a few. He thinks it possible that Europeans will get so fed up with it that they will grow more and more right-wing, until they plunge the continent into a new brand of fascism. He also makes the case that most Europeans are more conservative than their governments and media portray them to be...I think that this is most likely true. In this scenario, I think Germany would either be the first (just because of past national tendencies) to fall to fascism, or it would be the last (due to its desire not to repeat its past mistakes).

Edited by Moose
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On the same note, what are the odds of that happening with Japan?

Post-War Japan is a very odd place sometimes.

The Japanese were very quick in the aftermath of World War Two to accept General Douglas MacArthur's rule of Japan in the time between occupation and independence. During that time, the Japanese Emperor reounced his divinity (making much of the "legitimacy" for their activity during and before World War Two moot) and the Japanese people embraced their new constitution. It is the world's only "pacifist" consitution, with a clause that forbids Japan from having an army or taking offensive military action. They held their Tokyo war crimes trials, and as far as they were concerned, they had made ammends and could now join the community of civilized nations.

(legal tangent, the modern day Japanese "Self Defense Force" is officially regarded as a branch of the Police department and so in legalese, is not an "army")

Despite Japanese atrocities during and before the war (Nanking, Burma Railroad, etc) the Japanese as a people have not as overtly apologetic as the Germans. To give an example for comparison, in light of recent UN discussions about sending a UN force to Lebannon, several German newspapers were against the idea because they felt it would not be right to put German troops in a position where they might need to confront Jewish soldiers from Israel.

In Japan by contrast, there is a slight bitter nostalgia for Japanese action during the war. For most Japanese, there is no malevolent intent, its more that it is seen as part of the history. As the generation who fought and lived during the war are now dead or dying, most of the current youth simply don't feel its their duty to appologise when their ancestors did not. Its rare to hear any Japanese person make public condemnation about the comfort women brought over from Korea because the Japanese just dont think they are important. This means that when China or (South) Korea have protests directed at the Japanese for not being appologetic enough, the avergae Japanese person really has nothing to say because they dont see themselves as a part of this.

Now this is runs parallel to the more serious problem of Extreme Japanese Nationalism. Though it has waxed and wanned in recent decades, There are vocal Japanese Nationalists who want the Emperor Re-Instated, the Americans pushed out, and the Koreans Re-Occupied. They tend to get in the news a lot, confounding the situation. For example, a far right wing group recently published a Revisionist History textbook which glosses over events like Naking and makes Japan in World War Two out to be a "misunderstood" nation. In Japan, the public schools select which textbook to use and in the entire system, only about 1% selected the new textbook. This however, was blown up by the Chinese and the Koreans to make it seem as if the Japanese were re-discovering aggression. And in the context of Japan's (legitimate) reactions to both North Korea and Chinese attempt to grab oil and gas in the South China Sea, the average Korean or Chinese thinks that Japan has become like it was in World War Two, while the average Japanese person is confused as to why the Chinese and Koreans are screaming and shouting at them.

(Tangetial point, the irony is that it used to be that public schools used to have no choice in which textbooks they could have, and so the right to select a revisionist textbook is an expression of the desire for schools to have less centralized control in their operations)

Finally, you have the Politicians like Abe and Koizumi who seem to stuck between the appathetic Japanese attitude and the far right wing attitude. Yasakuni Shrine shows this well. Japanese Shintoism has it that all the warrior spirits become gods after they die, including Class-A war criminals from the Tokyo Tribunals. The shrine where ALL spirits of ALL Japanese who die in war go to, is Yasukuni Shrine. (It was established around the 17th/18th century). The Shrine is now a private institution (which runs a revisionist museum next door) and so if you want to pay your respects to, say, the Japanese sailors who fought the Russians in 1905, you have to go to Yasakuni shrine where the Class-A war criminals are side by side. China and Korea percieve this as being ignorant of the evils of the Class A war criminals who are held in the shrine.

The solution to this would be for the Japanese government to set up a state run shrine (shintoism is a very ad-hoc religion) where all the Japanese soldiers except the Class A war criminals could be held. The problem is, that the more conservative branches of Governement (who are not as right wing as the people who want to see the God-Emperor reinstated) feel that such action would against the spirit of the Japanese people, and that it is really the duty of the Koreans and the Chinese to be more understanding of why they go to Yasakuni in the first place. I personally feel it is a bit silly to expect the Koreans and Chinese to respect and understand the idea of going to a shrine where the equivalents of Hitlers and Goebbels are kept and respected.

So Post-War Japan has many different forces acting out of concert with each other. There are those who would like to see Japan restart what it began in 1939, but they are a minority. Its neighbors do not think they are a minority so they antagonize Japan, forcing the nation to modernize its military and become a genuine military power. Will Japan ever try to re-occupy Korea or begin exapanding territorially? No. Will they improve their military capacity? Yes, and that will be seen as trying to re-live world war two by the Koreans and the Chinese.

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Good post. I don't know much about Japanese society, so that's helpful. Although, as bad as Japan used to be, I don't think they really had any war criminals on the level of Hitler and Goebbels. And I won't hold it against the young people for refusing to apologize for the sins of their ancestors, for the same reason that I won't apologize for the internment of Japanese-Americans.

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Although, as bad as Japan used to be, I don't think they really had any war criminals on the level of Hitler and Goebbels.

You're very wrong about that. Here are only two examples:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_death_march

Oh, and as an aside, it's interesting Japan is now doing revisionist textbooks. Previously, their history books were blank for the 1930's through 1945.

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I don't think there's any great risk from Germany or Japan. They are both part of the civilized world now, which means they have been brought in to the global monoculture of tolerance, multicultalism etc. This teaches them that values are all relative, and thus reduces their strength of feeling about things and makes them less likely to start wars.

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? Yes, and that will be seen as trying to re-live world war two by the Koreans and the Chinese.

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I must say you really understand the relations between China and japan.I come from China and i found this forum just by chance. Things happened between China and Japan during 1939-1945(actually 1931-1945) are ignored by a lot of westerners for years.Like what a boy said before that japan is not as evil as Nazi Germany during the WWII, lots of Americans have no ideas about what happened in China during that dark age.Every Chinese student knows perfectly what happended in Europe, for all the history incidents will be tested since middle school.however,when you finally turn your eyes from Europe to Asia,something cruel and brutal just can not be ignored.Nanking is not only a city name but also means that 300,000 innocent people were killed in this city by those japanese soldiers.Most of them were children and women.Therefore,i just cannot imagine that Koreans and Chinese may forgive those japanese especially the japanese government deputies go to that god damn shrine every year.

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Everyone from Germany that I've talked to about WWII becomes nervous to talk about it or too forceful in how much they dislike Nazis. They try very hard to serparate themselves from the Nazis in any way possible, almost too hard. At first it weirded me out how obssesive they are about it, but then you also need to keep in mind that you can be arrested for even slightly seeming like a Nazi, being in possession of a swastika, and possibly even being in contact with a Nazi. This can definately make someone obsessive about it whether they hate nazis of love them.

This is interesting. This is analogous to how nearly all white citizens in the United States get extremely uncomfortable, very nervous and almost overly defensive if you insinuate that in some way they are discriminating against black people. Racism is obviously abhorrent and self-defeating but discussing this topics in public tends to be unnecessarily awkward. (I suppose I too am going to clumsy extents to avoid being misconstrued as racist.)

I too agree that there is very little concern for Germany and/or Japan reverting back to their World War II mentalities. Unlike the 1930s and 1940s, the Germans and Japanese possess numerous government protected civil liberties and the opportunity to amass great wealth in their robust economies. The citizens of these countries have much too much to lose if they were to support a government that would initiate force against other nations.

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Very informative post Strangelove. Thank you.

Edited by DarkWaters
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Like what a boy said before that japan is not as evil as Nazi Germany during the WWII, lots of Americans have no ideas about what happened in China during that dark age.

I must admit I am pretty much ignorant on the topic, so if I was out of line, I apologize. I didn't really wake up to the real world of history and politics until about 2 years ago. I am trying to educate myself on every historical/political topic that I deem to be the most important. I will eventually get around to WWII-era Japan, but haven't yet. I blame the education system, even though I went to a private high school and a prestigious university. Of course, I am also to blame for not taking more initiative, but I'm trying to make up for it now.

I've always been a politically-minded person...I watched every presidential debate in 1992, at the age of 10. But, until recently, I never made an attempt to actually have informed opinions. I mostly regurgitated the opinions of people I agreed with. So, bear with me, and if I say something dumb every now and then, please understand that I'm trying everything I can to rectify the situation.

Edited by Moose
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I must say you really understand the relations between China and japan.I come from China and i found this forum just by chance. Things happened between China and Japan during 1939-1945(actually 1931-1945) are ignored by a lot of westerners for years.Like what a boy said before that japan is not as evil as Nazi Germany during the WWII, lots of Americans have no ideas about what happened in China during that dark age.Every Chinese student knows perfectly what happended in Europe, for all the history incidents will be tested since middle school.however,when you finally turn your eyes from Europe to Asia,something cruel and brutal just can not be ignored.Nanking is not only a city name but also means that 300,000 innocent people were killed in this city by those japanese soldiers.Most of them were children and women.Therefore,i just cannot imagine that Koreans and Chinese may forgive those japanese especially the japanese government deputies go to that god damn shrine every year.

True, but I suspect that Chinese history is not taught 100% perfectly, I imagine that most Chinese textbooks gloss over events during the Mao era such as the Great Leap Froward and the Cultural Revolution, as well as the events of Tiananmen Square.

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I must admit I am pretty much ignorant on the topic, so if I was out of line, I apologize. I didn't really wake up to the real world of history and politics until about 2 years ago. I am trying to educate myself on every historical/political topic that I deem to be the most important. I will eventually get around to WWII-era Japan, but haven't yet. I blame the education system, even though I went to a private high school and a prestigious university. Of course, I am also to blame for not taking more initiative, but I'm trying to make up for it now.

I've always been a politically-minded person...I watched every presidential debate in 1992, at the age of 10. But, until recently, I never made an attempt to actually have informed opinions. I mostly regurgitated the opinions of people I agreed with. So, bear with me, and if I say something dumb every now and then, please understand that I'm trying everything I can to rectify the situation.

It is a virture to rectify the situation.This means that you are constantly reasonable.Unfortunately those japanese just can not understand the past,being stubborn to believe that WWII is a war to help China and Korea.This trend is dangerous for at the end of that war the japanese government did not apologize to Asian countries which suffered tremendously.

This was analogous to how nearly the East Germany citizens felt uncomfortable, very nervous and ignorant if you talked about Nazi.Because East Germany citizens believed that by the occupation of Soviet Union army,Nazi was just something about the West Germany.However,these days the Neo-Nazi find the former East Germany a warm soil to spread their ideology.I strongly suspect the same consequence may happen in Japan in the future once they meet their seriously economic problem(like the shortage of energy).

By the way , you really need’t apologize.I mean if we have a different opion we can discuss and talk.Your effort is just so lovely. It is japanese who need to apologize to Aian people ,not you.

I do like your declaration of this(a car that is less than 10 years old).

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True, but I suspect that Chinese history is not taught 100% perfectly, I imagine that most Chinese textbooks gloss over events during the Mao era such as the Great Leap Froward and the Cultural Revolution, as well as the events of Tiananmen Square.

This is the history that we just can not forget . About events during the Mao era such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, as well as the events of Tiananmen Square,our text book is not perfectly right.Or should I say part of it is wrong. I know that during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution a lot of people died of hunger.The whole society reduced to a situation of chaos and disorder.The economy development stopped.Tens of thousand people were killed for no real reasons.(most of their crimes were anti—Communism or Capitalism supporter).

In Tiananmen Square incident,about 7,000 people were killed by the government.The government cracked down the demonstration in a totally wrong way.

However from a another perspective, let me talk about the reason why the government try their best to cover up the truths.In MEN IN BLACK, Tommy Lee Jones said a person is smart but people are panic and stupid.I just could not agree any more,especially most of Chinese people are farmers who are undereducated and ignorant.They have no ideas about what democracy is.They could sell their votes at a lowest price(how about 50$).Without changing the people how can you expect to change the society.I mean at this moment we still have a group of domestic affairs to cope with.Taking a look at what happened in the vast East Europe countries,the citizens in those countries lost all their faith and belief when communism was gone.I am not going to find a plea for those atrocities.I just believe that this is not the right time to rediscover the truths.Maybe after 30 years, most of the people in China are reasonable and ready to perceive the truths which should have been learnt almost 50 years ago.Our government leaders may also finally apologize for their wrongdoing.

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Unfortunately those japanese just can not understand the past,being stubborn to believe that WWII is a war to help China and Korea.This trend is dangerous for at the end of that war the japanese government did not apologize to Asian countries which suffered tremendously.

Be very carefull about your generalizations, what you are doing is what I described was happening in my post. In Japan, there is a small but voal minority of people who have very incorrect views but the neighbouring countries incorrectly assume that those views are held by a majority of the population.

There have been several formal government appologies, but most would agree that nothing quite on the level of what the Germans have done. However, that was 60 years ago, and the generation who should have done that are dead or dying, why must their children be antagonized for what their parents did not do?

This was analogous to how nearly the East Germany citizens felt uncomfortable, very nervous and ignorant if you talked about Nazi.Because East Germany citizens believed that by the occupation of Soviet Union army,Nazi was just something about the West Germany.However,these days the Neo-Nazi find the former East Germany a warm soil to spread their ideology.I strongly suspect the same consequence may happen in Japan in the future once they meet their seriously economic problem(like the shortage of energy).

I am not an expert of the most recent rise in German nationalism, but my understanding is that the East German situation is more a case study about German failure to integrate the former Communist component.

The Koreans and Chinese governments do not want an apology from the Japanese because the Japanese need to appologise, the Chinese want an apology because they are trying to become a regional hegemon and what to see Japan "loose face" as they would say it. They want to gain a moral upper hand (which is hard to do when you are oppressing Falun Gung) and they also want to gain natural gas in the South China sea. As for the Koreans, well, the youth there have gotten some very bad opinons into their head, such as the idea that America is keeping the North and South apart and the idea that Koizumi wants to re-occupy the penninsula.

But there was not "right" way for the Government to crack down on the demonstrators, the government should have been removed and it is a shame that the students lacked the ability to remove the government.

I think you overestimate situation with the farmers in China. Firstly, you have a very quickly developing middle class on China's eastern cities, so the whole country is not an uneducated mob. Secondly, you also have interesting developments in the east where the farmers are protesting against the central government and the local communist parties since they don't feel that they can do a good job. Thirdly, it is better for there to be a democratic/republican process so that people can elect politicians and then learn to elect someone different when they implement bad policies. I think its unfair to compare the situation to Eastern Europe negativvely when many of those very countries have actually done very well. Poland is probably one of the few places in Europe where people are actually working, Estonia Latvia and Lithuania have made good progress, etc.

The problem with China is that the government does not want to give up power and can no longer survive off Communist ideology so is pressing for what can be seen as a sort of pseudo-fascist type of government, with strong anti-Japanese nationalist sentiment promoted to provide a way for the Chinese to have a reason to support their government in Beijing.

Also, as a I understand, the willingness for the average Chinese to admit as you have, that the government has made mistakes, is very, very rare.

EDIT: Technical question, any idea why the

code is not working?
Edited by Strangelove
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How topical, the very event under discussion is back in the news!

S. Korea warns of Yasauni visit.

S Korea warns on Yasukuni visit

South Korean lawmakers have urged Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi not to pay a visit to a controversial war shrine.

There is mounting speculation that Mr Koizumi will go to the Yasukuni shrine on Tuesday, the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender.

The visits cause anger in neighbouring countries, who say the shrine celebrates Japan's militaristic past.

Last week, China issued a statement warning against a visit.

The Yasukuni shrine, in central Tokyo, commemorates the country's 2.5 million war dead. Fourteen convicted Class A war criminals, including war-time prime minister Gen Hideki Tojo, are also enshrined there.

In Seoul, ruling Uri Party lawmaker Kim Han-gill said "acts of provocation" by Japan should not be overlooked.

"The government must take the strongest diplomatic response possible if the Japanese prime minister goes ahead with the Yasukuni shrine visit," he said.

On Sunday, the South Korean foreign ministry said it would file an immediate protest if the visit went ahead.

Mr Koizumi, who is due to step down in September, has visited the shrine five times since taking office in 2001. He says he visits the shrine to pay his respects to the war dead and pray for peace.

During his campaign for office, he vowed to visit the shrine on the 15 August anniversary, but he has not done so yet.

Attention has also been focused on the stances of potential contenders to succeed Mr Koizumi.

The front-runner, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, who has visited the shrine in the past, has declined to say what he would do if he becomes prime minister.

Leading rival Sadakazu Tanigaki has ruled out a visit and Foreign Minister Taro Aso, another contender, is also thought to be against one.

Public concern over the shrine issue has been increasing, with recent polls suggesting more than half the Japanese public do not want their next prime minister to continue the visits.

On Sunday, more than 1,000 people marched in Tokyo to protest against visits to the shrine.

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The idea at the root of the Third Reich was collectivism. While many things have changed on the surface, collectivism is still a dominant part of German culture.

But that is a root shared with many other nations that do not aggressively invade their neighbors, followed by the slaughter and enslavement of their inhabitants. Collectivism may be a root of the Third Reich, but there was a different root that made it different from other collectivist cultures and that made it the aggressive, genocidal regime that it was. France is pretty collectivist but, no matter how collectivist they get, I don't think we have to worry about France attempting an Anschluss with Belgium. The difference was the particular form of collectivism: nationalism. Apart from the actual root ideology, there's the fact that the Germans were so fed up with the Versailles Treaty and the Depression, that they were willing to follow just about anyone who promised Germany a return to greatness.

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France is pretty collectivist but, no matter how collectivist they get, I don't think we have to worry about France attempting an Anschluss with Belgium.

We sure don't; sooner will Belgium try and Anschluss France, confident that the French will duly surrender! :)

The difference was the particular form of collectivism: nationalism.

The French are very nationalist too. That alone does not account for the difference.

The difference between Germany now and then is that back then, Germans were confident that they could quickly and relatively painlessly achieve victory. Now they are literally afraid of war. So they are unlikely to start one--but much likelier to do what the French did in World War II: become part of an aggressive empire through failure to retaliate.

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The point I was trying to get across is that collectivism does not necessitate an aggressively imperialist country. Some forms of it yes, but not all. Surrendering to an aggressive nation may be stupid, but it, in and of itself, does not constitute aggression on the part of the surrenderer.

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Be very carefull about your generalizations, what you are doing is what I described was happening in my post. In Japan, there is a small but voal minority of people who have very incorrect views but the neighbouring countries incorrectly assume that those views are held by a majority of the population.

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OK!I may make a mistake here.According to some of my classmates in Tokyo,things are better than my imagination.People in Japan,according to their point of view,are pretty hypocritical.However,I would rather perceive this as a manner than hypocrisy.And also I bet you have heard the news that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had visited that war shrine on Tuesday.More over,almost half of the japanese people are against this.Those A-class war-crime criminals who murdered numerous innocent Chinese and Koreas were put there,and you know this.On the one hand,I force me myself to believe that only minority of people who have this incorrect views.On the other, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s behaviour slapped my face for this naïve opinion.I really do not know what to believe.Maybe the answer is just there.And you know it.

There have been several formal government appologies, but most would agree that nothing quite on the level of what the Germans have done. However, that was 60 years ago, and the generation who should have done that are dead or dying, why must their children be antagonized for what their parents did not do?

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During that dark age,almost 20,000,000 innocent chinese people lost their lives.And also 3,000,000 Chinese soldiers died in the front line.The reason why people in the US do not need that apology that much is mainly because your airforce laid two big eggs in japan.I also know that there were almost 320,000 US soldiers killed by the japanese army.However we almost lost everything ,compared with your figure.Personally,I am totally supportive about that militarian action.But I do believe that we Chinese people deserve a apology from the Japnese government.

The Koreans and Chinese governments do not want an apology from the Japanese because the Japanese need to appologise, the Chinese want an apology because they are trying to become a regional hegemon and what to see Japan "loose face" as they would say it. They want to gain a moral upper hand (which is hard to do when you are oppressing Falun Gung) and they also want to gain natural gas in the South China sea. As for the Koreans, well, the youth there have gotten some very bad opinons into their head, such as the idea that America is keeping the North and South apart and the idea that Koizumi wants to re-occupy the penninsula.

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From a government’s perspective ,you maybe right.However,from my point of view,I just want a apology,that’s it.

But there was not "right" way for the Government to crack down on the demonstrators, the government should have been removed and it is a shame that the students lacked the ability to remove the government.

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Yes,there is not a Right way to slaughter people.At this point, we're in full agreement then.But what I am trying to say is that our government should have chosen a smarter way to cope with this kind of situation.Taking a look at what happened in France several months ago,the french government also faced a demonstration.They are much smarter than us .Our government should learn something.

I think you overestimate situation with the farmers in China. Firstly, you have a very quickly developing middle class on China's eastern cities, so the whole country is not an uneducated mob. Secondly, you also have interesting developments in the east where the farmers are protesting against the central government and the local communist parties since they don't feel that they can do a good job. Thirdly, it is better for there to be a democratic/republican process so that people can elect politicians and then learn to elect someone different when they implement bad policies. I think its unfair to compare the situation to Eastern Europe negativvely when many of those very countries have actually done very well. Poland is probably one of the few places in Europe where people are actually working, Estonia Latvia and Lithuania have made good progress, etc.

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Potentially,I am supportive about the multiparty system.Just like a doctor needs another doctor to cure his disease.Power should be balanced and divided.But I can not imagine that that goal can be achieved by radical revolution.Time can change everything.Radical revolution will just ruin every achievement which is created during the economy reform.Chinese people can not afford another Cultural Revolution.

The problem with China is that the government does not want to give up power and can no longer survive off Communist ideology so is pressing for what can be seen as a sort of pseudo-fascist type of government, with strong anti-Japanese nationalist sentiment promoted to provide a way for the Chinese to have a reason to support their government in Beijing.

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The government does not want to give up power,yes,that’s true.But I think it’s ridiculous to think that we support our government just because they can provide the anti-japanese nationalist sentiment.They really need’t do that.The anti-japanese sentiment is a nature thing.Even during the honey-moon period with japan, the average chinese people still really hate them because of that war.Now the reason why we support our government is mainly because they are still doing ok.

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