S U N D O W N E R
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Sunday, May 18, 2025
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Post War
Roosevelt surprised Stalin at Yalta when he claimed
Americans would not tolerate occupying Europe for
more than two years. The one nation capable of
preventing the Soviet takeover of all Europe would
just up and leave. What a gift to Stalin were that true.
Western Europe lay devasted by war now, but it had
the ability to recover and become once again a
premier economic jewel of the planet.
An Iron Curtain economy combined with the financial
and industrial resources of Britain, Germany, France,
Italy and Spain would present a formidable challenge
to America's economic global dominance.
Truman would do whatever it took to prevent
Russian control of all Europe. The United States
would find itself outmatched economically were
they confronted by this hostile behemoth.
The Communists gained prestige and credibility
for their courageous resistance to the Nazi
occupiers of their land. In Third World countries
the Communists were identified as nationalists
fighting for independence from repression and
economic exploitation. They were viewed as
champions of the people.
It became obvious to Truman's people that Germany
was the key to recovery in Western Europe.
The German nation remained the industrial powerhouse
of Europe and it would be quickest to restore its factories
and assemble its highly skilled workforce.
The U.S. fought to preserve democracy in Europe but
the Third World nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America
were often treated with a different set of priorities.
The people of these lands were governed by
repressive regimes that only continued the practices
of colonial rule. America found itself in partnership
with dictators in order to prevent the nations' takeover
by communist revolutionaries.
MAD. Mutual Assured Destruction.
A nuclear war would be unwinnable.
Civilization would be destroyed.
Survivors of the holocaust would envy the dead.
How does any leader navigate between surrender
and the likely destruction of organized humanity?
The nations would soon enough be tested
with just this threat.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Stalin
Only the most paranoid and ruthless of leaders
survived the cutthroat Kremlin politics. Still,
rising through the ranks required a prospective leader
to control his emotions. Success required cold
pragmatism - a sober but cynical view of reality.
Human relations were calculating, tactical.
Anyone not under Stalin's control was judged to be
his rival. The three friends he shares company with
above were all put to death for disloyalty to Stalin.
Stalin was an unpredictable, overpowering personality.
You never knew how you would be treated by him -
cool and controlled or in a fit of rage.
You could be the scapegoat of one of his mistakes.
Someone has to pay for this outrage.
During Stalin's Great Purge of the 1930s
you didn't have to be guilty to be convicted.
Having any reason to be disloyal to Stalin was
itself an act of disloyalty, requiring cleansing punishment.
Your agony would set the proper example.
Stalin was surrounded by a world that wanted him dead.
For Stalin, loyalty was based on fear.
Eisenhower honored Roosevelt's promise to Stalin
and let the Red Army take Berlin.
Twenty-seven million Russians dead. They earned it.
On his drive to Yalta, Roosevelt viewed mile after mile
of landscape ravaged by war. Roosevelt said of the
invading Germans - I hope they get what they deserve.
Cold War Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was
influenced by Stalin's belief in Eisenhower.
The General was a decent man.
You could trust him to be honest...
for a bourgeoise capitalist.
Roosevelt felt he could persuade Stalin into making
concessions to the West. FDR had faith in the bond
he had made with the Soviet leader. Despite their
clashing ideologies, they could find shared values
and outlooks on the future.
Stalin found Roosevelt agreeable. He liked the president
even more than he liked Eisenhower. Roosevelt
understood his nation's problems. Not like Truman.
You couldn't work with this man.
But Roosevelt had the gaunt appearance of one
who could die at any moment. Slump in a chair
and expire. Just like that.
Roosevelt vanishes from the American scene.
So begins a new chapter.
The Cold War.
The Soviet Union dominated Europe.
The Red Army was the largest in the world.
Russia was consistently increasing its industrial capacity.
Mao led a successful revolution in Asia and brought
Communist rule to China. Suddenly the Soviet Union
had a powerful ally in the East.
U.S. global dominance was broken.
* * * * *
OVER EASY
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Saturday, May 3, 2025
Roosevelt's Vision
Roosevelt was a gifted politician, a leader of
historic proportions. His embrace of idealism was
tempered by shrewdness and cunning.
He remained always aware of which direction
the political wind blew.
Humanity had a way of twisting principle
into something closer to the needs of
human nature. Love. Fear. Power.
Strong feelings that often overlook principle.
"It's easier to fight for one's principles than
to live up to them."
Alfred Adler, psychologist.
Democracy is not just about counting votes.
What democracy denies the people open and honest
debate? In a true democracy only the people's will
gave leaders the authority to govern them.
Self determination.
Making one's own choices.
The population of any colony had little, if any,
ability to make decisions about their welfare.
Colonizers based their authority to rule on
governing by force. They took valuables from
the land's native people because they could.
The higher society rules.
More primitive cultures serve.
Imperialism.
Roosevelt would have Churchill free Britain's colonies.
How could you claim to be fighting for democracy
when you were repressing people worldwide?
Colonies must become free nations. Roosevelt insisted.
This provision in the Atlantic Charter was non-negotiable.
Churchill signed.
Churchill was alone fighting Hitler. The rest of the world
watched the drama, spectators to a battle pitting the
forces of democracy against the authoritarian's minions.
Signing some document about ridding the world
of colonies didn't matter. It was a splendid gesture.
Churchill was at war. Winning was everything.
Do what you must.
The promise of prosperity across the globe made
world markets, free of tariffs, so appealing.
Capitalists would work their magic by efficiently
directing seed money to the most capable performers.
Competition creates wealth. There are also losers.
Lost jobs. Lost careers. Lost communities.
Free Trade may have been an economic win overall
but tariffs were in the national interest.
Often they were protection against unfair
competition instigated by the predatory practices
of foreign governments and corporations.
Collective security. No more every nation for themself.
This was to be League of Nations 2.0. The U.S. would
play the leading role. There would be a council made up
of the four great powers: U.S.A., Soviet Union, Britain
and China. They would provide the oversite of
smaller nations.
A world body of peace could not be based upon
lack of trust. War's end revealed new threats
to peace. The unnatural alliance between the Capitalist
West and Communist East ended with the death of Hitler.
Cooperation was no longer in the national interest.
The oppressed workers eventually win the struggle
with their capitalist overseers and find real freedom.
Lenin predicted the class struggle would end with
spontaneous worker revolts in the most advanced
industrial nations worldwide. Stalin saw a more
traditional victory of territorial conquest, peaceful
or otherwise, and with the Kremlin in control.
The East and West were now adversaries.
It would be up to the diplomats to keep
them out of war.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, April 27, 2025
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