Victory Party

For John, BLUF:  There is always someone who is unhappy.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Writing for The Nation, Mr Martin Sieff asks "Why Is the US Failing to Honor Russia’s Victory Day Anniversary?"  And here is the sub-headline:  "Instead of honoring shared sacrifice in the fight against the Nazis, the president has taken another cheap shot at Russia over Ukraine."  Here is the lede:

The 70th anniversary of Victory Day offered a wonderful opportunity for world leaders to come together and celebrate the triumph of international cooperation.  Unfortunately, this opportunity has been squandered by President Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and other Western leaders who have refused to participate in the May 9 celebrations in Moscow.  Rather than acknowledge and honor the Soviet role in the great victory of 1945, these leaders are deliberately distorting the historical record and treating the anniversary as yet another occasion to spurn Russia over the Ukraine crisis.  By doing so, they are not only dishonoring the memories of the millions of Red Army soldiers who died in the fight against the Nazis.  They are also rejecting an opportunity to ease East/West tensions in favor of raising them even further.

So, maybe it hinges on "acknowledge and honor the Soviet role in the great victory of 1945.  Let's not forget that the Soviet Union also took part in starting WWII by invading Poland along with the Germany. Then in 1940 it manufactured a crisis that led to a war with Finland. Add to this the occupation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania plus Romania's Bessarbaia province. Then we have Katyn and the Warsaw Uprising with regard to grinding Poland into the ground.

In fact, the Soviet Union did far more than the United States and Britain combined to destroy Nazi Germany and the Wehrmacht.

There is much debate on who won the war.  I have seen experts dispute this issue.  I don't like to see America's contribution minimized.  Yesterday down two I was looking for a checker board at a Pool and Toy store (Rogers Pool and Patio) on Middle Street.  There was a model for sale of a P-39 Airacobra in Soviet Livery.♠  I remember my Late Father noting the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and commenting that he helped build some of those flat cars being used—in Johnstown, PA.  Then there was the fact that Britain stopped the germans and Italians from getting to Egypt, keeping the Middle East open as a supply line into Russia.  And the Combined Bomber Offensive played its role.

Someone noted that a quick google for the author finds plenty of anti-US and pro-Russia writings by Mr. Seiff.  For Seiff, the U.S. is neo-Trotskyites and Russia and China are 'led by pragmatic governments guided by the traditional concepts of profit and self-interest' that 'support and want to do business with existing governments and governing systems around the world.'  For Seiff, this puts the U.S. on the far left and made Russia and China 'the 21st century's major global powers of the new Right.'

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  "Don't give me a P-39, with engine mounted behind…Give me Operations, way out on some lonely atoll."  We delivered 4,719 P-39s to the Soviet Union.