. Hitler was a monster, true, but also a product of times that the US has a lot of responsibility for.

No, I’m sorry, I won’t pass that. I have completely run out of patience for any sort of exculpatory or explanatory nonsense. The problem was that Hitler was actually insane, a twisted genius capable of bringing out the worst in people and making them think it was their best.

As regards Buchanan, his thesis is gamely dismembered here:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/141501

Money quote:

However, in point of fact Germany was governed by an ultra-rightist, homicidal, paranoid maniac who had begun by demolishing democracy in Germany itself, who believed that his fellow countrymen were a superior race and who attributed all the evils in the world to a Jewish conspiracy. It is possible to read whole chapters of Buchanan’s book without having to bear these salient points in mind.

The question facing, not just Israel, but the rest of the world, is: Do we want to face these psychopaths when they have nuclear weapons or when they don’t?

What if the evidence necessary to go to war was a stringent as that necessary to convict a murderer with a good defense attorney? What? The stakes are too high for due process? So God is unprincipled? Then what is the use?

The stakes are very high, so high we should despair of unprincipled behavior since no merely human behavior will suffice. Just logic.

Look, the evidence seems to be that we should not push world leaders to desperation. If I were a despot, the last thing I might want to do is commit suicide.

Even Hitler seems to have been relatively reasonable in the beginning but the West, particularly England and Poland it seems (ouch, I am 1/2 Polish) wanted to play hardball. Read Pat Buchanan for details.

But in any case, we need to quit playing games in the Middle East over oil, is my chief point.

I did not want to believe it but it is true: the victors write the history books. Hitler was a monster, true, but also a product of times that the US has a lot of responsibility for. (See Myron’s comment.)

Brilliant! Wolfgang should look up to you, maybe.

Moon,

First of all, it’s Hugo. Second, I don’t see any refutation about the point that we are dealing with complete loonies here. Of course this doesn’t mean the Iranian people – I agree with Ilana and Robert Glisson about the Persians I meet during my day to day work. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make any difference. The history of my own fatherland makes it abundantly clear what happens when lunatics get into power. It also makes a mockery of the following:

The historical evidence is that no world leaders are suicidal.

I can scarcely believe I’m reading this.

Arguably, as N countries (N>>1) acquire the [useless in practice] nuclear capability and over the span of years, it would seem that a nuclear war of some nature is inevitable. Nevertheless, such suicidal insanity is more likely to be brought upon by GLOBAL BANKRUPTCY and POLITICAL INSTABILITY than by the mere presence of the weapons themselves. Consider that he Germany of 1910 was imperialistic but the Germany of 1940 (after humiliation, hyperinflation, and depression) was mad.

Hence, Bibi Netanyahu and the neocons’ worship of the Cult of Churchill should be taken with a great dose of skepticism. I’ll be very happy with a Gerald Ford and peace over another Churchill and war.

It is nothing to long for or be careless about. If the West is truly seeking to prevent a nuclear war, that is one thing. If it is also trying to protect its economic “interests” in the region under the guise of preventing a nuclear war then it is playing with fire.

Please forgive some if we err on the side of peace since we have been grievously used by warmongers and liars.

Each case, will of course, be more urgent and compelling and this time is different of course.

Have you heard the story of the boy who cried wolf too often?

This is no game as in “The Great Game.” This could very easily be “it” with a great depression brewing in the US.

Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD,
For what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you?
It will be darkness and not light;
As when a man flees from a lion
And a bear meets him,
Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him.
Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it? Amos 5:18-20

Let me tell you about oil. It is simply a mixture of compounds of hydrogen and carbon. In the US we have access to vast stores of both via coal and methyl-hydrate. If energy is needed, nukes could be built for the purpose.

My point is only this: Oil is not worth risking the end of the world over.