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Every right wing politician talks about the peace movement being "appeasers" - those who spoke out about the forthcoming Iraq invasion were called appeasers - they were allegedly bowing down to Saddam. But as we know now, it was a lot more complicated than that. Most in the peace movement realised that war would only make matters worse in Iraq - for that they had Vietnam as a model. And sadly, much of what was predicted by the peace movement has come to pass. Using the cry "appeasement" is often a move to simplify a complex issue. Even Chamberlain's "appeasement" was a lot more complex than it is painted. Rather than a buckling under to Hitler's demands, and an attempt to pacify him by giving him what he wanted, some historians on the left see appeasement as a calculated gamble to try to get Hitler moving East along the narrow corridor of Czechoslovakia, towards Russia (look at a pre-war map of Europe to see the borders of Czechoslovakia). The western powers hoped that they could get Hitler to move east, as he had promised in Mien Kemp, and thus get the two totalitarian states to get worn down in a mutually destructive war. The West would pick up the pieces. (Countering that move, was the attempt by Russia to court Britain, which was ignored...and then next the Hitler-Stalin pact. All three power blocs were in a dangerous dance). So "appeasement" as we understand it, is a very simplistic, external view of a far more complex power-play. I would suggest that to suggest that listening to Palestinian arguments, and attempting to find peace through dialogue, is "appeasement" only in this narrow right-wing use of the word. In fact it is the only way that has any chance of avoiding hatred that potentially could last for centuries - like the inexplicable hatreds of Northern Ireland and the Balkans. But when peoples are under the sway of right-wing demagogues - what hope is that they can avert the inevitable bloodshed. Very little. Tony Currie Tony Currie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rowland Scherman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, 28 May 2004 1:27 PM Subject: Re: [RHETORIC] [PNEWS] Israeli Raid > |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| > ANNOUNCEMENTS and ARTICLES: http://pnews.org/art/art.shtml > |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| > > On27/5/04 8:35 PM, Michael McMillan spake thusly: > > > |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| > > ANNOUNCEMENTS and ARTICLES: http://pnews.org/art/art.shtml > > |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| > > > > Neville Chamberlain. Munich, 1938. An agreement reached with Hitler, that > > for what amounted to a little bluster and some posturing, Hitler was > > satisfied with the part of Chechoslovakia that was given to him, and had no > > further desires on the European continent. In September 1939, Germany > > invaded Poland and WW2 was under way a couple of days later. > > > > > > Have we learned NOTHING in all the years that have passed? Try to appease > > those who are evil, and they will only use it to build the weapons with > > which to kill you. I'd really like to believe that being nice to terrorists > > would make them decide not to kill us, but it has been proven too often that > > it "just ain't so". Israel learned this lesson even before it began, at the > > cost of her children, and hasn't forgotten the lessons learned. Sometimes > > she acts a little rougher than we in the rest of the world would like, > > but... if you were surrounded by enemies that had sworn your destruction, > > what would you do. Now, some of the rest of us are learning the hard way > > about negotiating with evil, and some of us will take a lot longer to learn > > the lessons than others have. > > > It doesn't work that way., Michael. > > --- > / o o \ PNEWS Topic Specific Portals (Vortals) > ===OO=====OO================================================= > http://pnews.org/vortal/ New World disOrder and Myth Busters > http://g0lem.net/vortal/ Insane Planet and Wacko World > http://g0lem.net/portal/ Bad-Ass Truth and TheGolemsPortal > http://pnews.org/portal/ Naked Truth and PNEWS Portal > ============================================================= > \_/ \_/ > --- / o o \ PNEWS Topic Specific Portals (Vortals) ===OO=====OO================================================= http://pnews.org/vortal/ New World disOrder and Myth Busters http://g0lem.net/vortal/ Insane Planet and Wacko World http://g0lem.net/portal/ Bad-Ass Truth and TheGolemsPortal http://pnews.org/portal/ Naked Truth and PNEWS Portal ============================================================= \_/ \_/
