Japan "lost" the war but they were the winner in the long run. More so than any other country. Thanks to MacArthur.

Yes Japan started to manufacture things that were sold to the U.S. Much of it was junk and would fall apart.

It is similar to Made in China things today. I bought a Made in China Baby Ben wind up alarm clock. The guts stripped out of it and I had to throw it in the trash. :-/

Germany also lost the war but soon became much more prosperous than the Brits who thought they won.

Very true...

Japan was the greatest winner because MacArthur forced them to come out of the dark ages. The peoples of Japan and Germany are industrious and dragged themselves up by the bootstraps with our help.

Side note, beginning WWII there were six major countries with dictators. At this time there are two remaining. Do you see any correlation between world strife then and now???

Germany also lost the war but soon became much more prosperous than the Brits who thought they won.

My Dad's Uncle Willard was supposed to be in the D-day invasion of France but he couldn't go because he was sick. He met a woman over in Britain and brought her home as his wife. Both are dead now for quite some time. :-/

Germans are industrious

I know a German-American girl in Seattle. She is a waitress in a restaurant that serves German and Chinese food.

She was getting paid $400 in cash every week. She lost her wallet with all her pay and it was not turned in at the police station.

I told her whoever found it kept the cash and threw the wallet in the trash. She will have to use her immigration papers which she has at home to get a new Washington state I.D.

People are very dishonest when they find a windfall like that.

One time when at the old Country Music Inn, I found some cash on the dance floor. The band leader was holding out his hand making with his fingers "gimme". So I put $5 in the tip jar. That got me a few requests.

You know how it is, people get drunk and do stupid shit with their money. LOL

Do you see any correlation between world strife then and now???

I suspect that there's a Nuclear Arms Race correlation between world strife then and now that very possibly pre-dates the conflict-staging plans of both World Wars, at least as far back as 1911 and maybe even earlier. This is a timeline of why I suspect that is so:

Wikipedia Refs. re: Nuclear Research and Development Pre-WWI and Pre-WWII

Niels Bohr [1911 ...]
V
Japanese nuclear weapon program [1917-December 1938]
V
German nuclear weapons program [December 1938-April 1939]
V
Franklin D. Roosevelt | Nuclear program [August 1939]

@ Footnote [k]: The Germans stopped research on nuclear weapons in 1942, choosing to focus on other projects. Japan gave up its own program in 1943.[283]

More details @:

Japanese nuclear weapon program [January 1939 to Post-WWII]
+
German nuclear weapons program [1 September 1939, the day of the invasion of Poland to Post-WWII]

Pre-WWII and WWII Wikipedia Refs.

U.S. Neutrality Acts of the 1930s [1935–1939 + Ludlow Amendment efforts 1935–1940]

USS Panay incident: 12 December 1937. Japan and the United States were not at war at the time. (Similar to the USS Liberty Attack by Israel decades later,) the Japanese claimed that they did not see the American flags painted on the deck of the gunboat, apologized, and paid an indemnity. Nevertheless, the (USS Panay) attack and the subsequent Allison incident in Nanking (soon afterwards on January 26, 1938) caused U.S. opinion to turn against the Japanese.

John Moore Allison: a consul at the American embassy in Nanjing/Nanking, China who was struck in the face on January 26, 1938 by a Japanese soldier during the Nanking Massacre (that occurred over a period of six weeks starting on December 13, 1937 - which was the next day after the USS Panay Attack by Japan - and ended in late January 1938). This incident, together with the looting of American property in Nanking that took place at the same time, further strained relations between Japan and the United States, which had already been damaged by the Panay incident less than two months earlier.

Franklin D. Roosevelt | Foreign policy (1933–1941) | + U.S. Peacetime Draft started Pre-Pearl Harbor Attack: When World War II began in September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland and Britain and France's subsequent declaration of war upon Germany, Roosevelt sought ways to assist Britain and France militarily. ... The Fall of France in June 1940 shocked the American public, ... In July 1940, a group of Congressmen introduced a bill that would authorize the nation's first peacetime draft, and with the support of the Roosevelt administration the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 passed in September. ... In September 1940, Roosevelt openly defied the Neutrality Acts by reaching the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, which, in exchange for military base rights in the British Caribbean Islands, gave 50 WWI American destroyers to Britain. ... The size of the [U.S.] Army would increase from 189,000 men at the end of 1939 to 1.4 million men in mid-1941 [months before the Pearl Harbor Attack.

Flying Tigers: AVG/American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force recruited under President Franklin Roosevelt's authority before Pearl Harbor. Active in China from April 1941 to 4 July 1942. Their mission was to bomb Japan and defend China [+ Americans and American properties there] but many delays meant the AVG flew in combat after the US and Japan declared war.

Franklin D. Roosevelt | Pearl Harbor and declarations of war: Relations with Japan had continually deteriorated since its invasion of Manchuria in 1931, and they had further worsened with Roosevelt's support of China.[261] With the war in Europe occupying the attention of the major colonial powers, Japanese leaders eyed vulnerable colonies such as the Dutch East Indies, French Indochina, and British Malaya.[262] After Roosevelt announced a $100 million loan (equivalent to $1.8 billion in 2018) to China in reaction to Japan's occupation of northern French Indochina, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. The pact bound each country to defend the others against attack, and Germany, Japan, and Italy became known as the Axis powers. [263] ... In July 1941, after Japan occupied the remainder of French Indochina, Roosevelt cut off the sale of oil to Japan, ... The Japanese were incensed by the embargo and Japanese leaders became determined to attack the United States unless it lifted the embargo. The Roosevelt administration was unwilling to reverse policy, and Secretary of State Hull blocked a potential summit between Roosevelt and Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe.[i] After diplomatic efforts to end the embargo failed, the Privy Council of Japan authorized a strike against the United States.[269] The Japanese believed that the destruction of the United States Asiatic Fleet (stationed in the Philippines) and the United States Pacific Fleet (stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii) was vital to the conquest of Southeast Asia.[270]

Franklin D. Roosevelt | War plans | the Course of the war:

In August 1941 [almost 4 months before the Pearl Harbor Attack], Roosevelt and Churchill conducted a highly secret bilateral meeting in which they drafted the Atlantic Charter, conceptually outlining global wartime and postwar goals. ... In late December 1941 [15 days after the Pearl Harbor Attack by Japan] Churchill and Roosevelt met at the Arcadia Conference [in Washington, D.C. from December 22, 1941 to January 14, 1942], which established a joint strategy between the U.S. and Britain. Both agreed on a Europe first strategy that prioritized the defeat of Germany before Japan. ... Roosevelt gave way in part to insistent demands from the public and Congress that more effort be devoted against Japan, but he always insisted on Germany first.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Roosevelt administration secured the funds needed to continue [nuclear] research and selected General Leslie Groves to oversee the Manhattan Project, which was charged with developing the first nuclear weapons. Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to jointly pursue the project, and Roosevelt helped ensure that American scientists cooperated with their British counterparts.

Side note, beginning WWII there were six major countries with dictators. At this time there are two remaining. Do you see any correlation between world strife then and now???

My intent was strictly the political state of six countries.

WWII changed governments for the better in four countries. Germany, Japan, Italy and Spain. Eighty years later China and Russia remain dictatorships and both are a threat to world peace, both have the strength to rule or ruin the world.

The United States saved both countries from being destroyed. Both countries are godless states, determined to rule the world.

WWII changed governments for the better in four countries. Germany, Japan, Italy and Spain. Eighty years later China and Russia remain dictatorships and both are a threat to world peace, both have the strength to rule or ruin the world.

The United States saved both countries from being destroyed. Both countries are godless states, determined to rule the world.

Russia isn't a Communist dictatorship anymore or godless like it was then. Putin supports Christianity there and that's probably one of the major reasons that Leftists despise him so much.

It's all the same crap worldwide so in my view illusioned purists in the USA have no grounds for criticizing countries like Russia and Iran for possibly having sham elections.

I agree Russia is no longer communist

I would disagree.

Lenin....."“It is necessary sometimes to take one step backward to take two steps forward.”

Lenin....."“It is necessary sometimes to take one step backward to take two steps forward.”

Russia may be back under the old Imperial Tri-color flag, but you can bet your boots they are still Communist. Better dead than Red. ;)

We do have a Deep State which is basically the core of career Government workers at the top in all departments/ministries who think they know what's better for the USA than the electorate does, and implement that with the attitude that such duties are required of them and their execution could never be any violation of the law regardless of what the law says.

BINGO! ;)

Want to know how military knew in advance that attack would be Pearl Harbor????

Want to know how military knew in advance that attack would be Pearl Harbor????

Code breakers had broken the Jap Naval Code well in advance of the attack.

This is why the carriers were at sea. ;)

Code breakers had broken the Jap Naval Code well in advance of the attack.

Is trick question..

How did they know would be Pearl...HARBOR...

Is trick question..

How did they know would be Pearl...HARBOR...

The U.S. was intercepting and translating diplomatic code in Europe. They knew an attack was coming but were not sure where. They suspected Malaysia or Philippines.

They never really expected an attack at Pearl 4,000 miles away from support bases. They were truly caught off guard. FDR ordered all U.S. military be informed of pending military attacks and to prepare accordingly.

The warning message to Pearl was sent by standard mail and did not arrive until after the attack occurred.

Was it pure luck the carriers were at sea? No way to know for certain, but it was fortuitous that they were.

When you think about it, the Japs knew Pearl Harbor was the major naval base for the Pacific fleet. So why not risk it? ;)

They never really expected an attack at Pearl 4,000 miles away from support bases

Seprate from all other intelligence, military by omission knew it was Pearl HARBOR. Long in advance to other intelligence.

Also...intelligence was long aware that the Japanese navy was undergoing long periods of training in a far northern small unused port for training of torpedo pilots. The port...was a shallow water harbor. The question was why months of training for shallow water torpedo pilots????

If the intended enemy was the US, then the answer was clear...the US had but ONE major Harbor in the Pacific in range of Japanese carriers...PEARL HARBOR...

This and Patton was long before elint intelligence.

intelligence was long aware that the Japanese navy was undergoing long periods of training in a far northern small unused port for training of torpedo pilots. The port...was a shallow water harbor. The question was why months of training for shallow water torpedo pilots????

If the intended enemy was the US, then the answer was clear...the US had but ONE major Harbor in the Pacific in range of Japanese carriers...PEARL HARBOR...

This and Patton was long before elint intelligence.

I wish there was a THUMBS UP on here like on Facebook. ;)

I wish there was a THUMBS UP on here like on Facebook. ;)

I forgot to add, Pearl Harbor is our one and ONLY shallow water harbor in the Pacific.

Pinguinite: I agree Russia is no longer communist

Cynicom: I would disagree. Lenin....."“It is necessary sometimes to take one step backward to take two steps forward.”

Sure, Communism tookover in Russia by Lenin and his minions agreeing to hand over Russia's Ukraine region to the Central Powers of WWI so that Communists could steal the rest of Russia for themselves through their war against the Russian government and its allied citizens. How many steps backwards like that does Post-Soviet Russia have to go, though, by voluntarily relinquishing territorial power, resources and control to formerly USSR nations and the West before the remainder can't rightly be equated with a Communist dictatorship -- just a Federation of Russia and its allies? It seems like the NATO-esque insist on stopping Russia from having any such allies. Why? Or maybe it's the Arms Industry, its investors and so on who object the most about that because they figure a more peaceful world would cause them to lose money and to the point that might even lower their ritzy living standards somewhat. Not very likely, imo, that the West being less belligerent towards Russia would cause it to lower the Defense guards for their continuance as the world's mightiest powers to the risky effect of Russia ruling the world or China or any alliances thereof either.

I would disagree.

Lenin....."“It is necessary sometimes to take one step backward to take two steps forward.”

Well, Lenin died a long time ago so I don't expect he'll be taking too many more steps forward.

The U.S. was intercepting and translating diplomatic code in Europe. They knew an attack was coming but were not sure where. They suspected Malaysia or Philippines.

The US had indeed already broken the Japanese code, and from it, FDR knew the time and the place. Confirmation was in hand a few hours before by a high level intelligence operative who wanted to warn PH but he was casually overruled.

The warning message to Pearl was sent by standard mail and did not arrive until after the attack occurred.

That may well have been by design. Given FDR and a few brass at the very top knew the time and place, sending by postal mail set to arrive after the attack provided a nice cover and alibi.

FDR needed the Japanese attack to take PH by surprise because he was fighting an isolationist political movement in the USA that was making it difficult to enter the war. By arranging/allowing the PH attack to be by surprise, he would easily dispatch the isolationism in the US and make it politically possible for the US to enter the war. It worked all too well. He knew where and when, and allowed it to happen for his own Deep State agenda. Admiral Kimmel, in charge of the fleet at PH, was kept in the dark intentionally and then scapegoated after the attack -- the injustice being a tiny price to pay to get the US into the war compared to the far greater losses yet to come.

Was it pure luck the carriers were at sea? No way to know for certain, but it was fortuitous that they were.

Only in hindsight. Keep in mind that in 1941, the value of the airplane was not yet appreciated. The prevailing confidence in naval power still resided in the mighty battleship. If they had wanted to do something fortuitously, I would have expected them to have arranged for the battleships to be at sea for the attack. FDR probably did not expect the amount of devastation that took place, but it played into his "day of infamy" plan all the better.

Cynicom @ Post #21: George Patton in 1938 warned Washington that the enemy would be coming from the north and that we should expand our air patrols to include the north. He was ignored.

Also...intelligence was long aware that the Japanese navy was undergoing long periods of training in a far northern small unused port for training of torpedo pilots. The port...was a shallow water harbor. The question was why months of training for shallow water torpedo pilots????

If the intended enemy was the US, then the answer was clear...the US had but ONE major Harbor in the Pacific in range of Japanese carriers...PEARL HARBOR...

This and Patton was long before elint intelligence.

Cynicom @ Post #23: I forgot to add, Pearl Harbor is our one and ONLY shallow water harbor in the Pacific.

Naval Station Pearl Harbor - Wikipedia

As the Imperial Japanese military pressed its war in China, concern over Japan's intentions caused the U.S. to begin taking defensive measures. On 1 February 1933, the U.S. Navy staged a mock attack [on the base at Pearl Harbor -- the first naval exercise to test simulated aircraft carrier attacks against the west coast of the United States --] as part of a preparedness exercise.[citation needed] [citation: "More About the Rest of Us" by Carleen Shea - Pg. 76 @ books.google.com] The attack "succeeded" and the defense was deemed a "failure".

Fleet problem - Wikipedia

Fleet problem is the term used by the United States Navy to describe each of 27 naval exercises. The initial 21 of these were conducted between 1923 and 1940. They are labeled with Roman numerals, from Fleet Problem I through Fleet Problem XXI. A 22nd Fleet Problem exercise, scheduled for [the Spring of] 1941, was canceled because of World War II.

Fleet Problem XIV: Held February 10–17, 1933, ... was the first naval exercise to test simulated aircraft carrier attacks against the west coast of the United States. ... Fleet Problem XIV coincidentally occurred the month before Franklin D. Roosevelt, a former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, took the office of the presidency. ... The simulated attacks had certainly been mitigated by the defensive 'blue' fleet, however the 'black' fleet had scored key victories

[Noting: Fleet Problem XIII, March 1932 - one month after Army/Navy Grand Joint Exercise 4: The exercise showed that one carrier was insufficient for either fleet attack or area defense ... Admiral Harry E. Yarnell said that six to eight carriers would be required for a Pacific campaign, but no orders were placed for new carriers, as Depression-era financial difficulties caused President Herbert Hoover to limit naval expenses.[15] || Fleet Problem XVI, May 1935: thought to be aspects of some real naval campaign of the future in which the U.S. would take the strategic offensive. || Fleet Problem XVII, Spring of 1936: preparing the fleet for anti-submarine operations, etc. || Fleet Problem XIX, April and May 1938: tested the capabilities of the Hawaiian Defense Force.]

Fleet Problem XXI: An eight-phase operation for the defense of the Hawaiian area in April 1940.[26]

[Noting @ Wikipedia ref. for United States Pacific Fleet: Until May 1940, the Battle Force was stationed on the west coast of the United States. ... Long term basing at Pearl Harbor was so strongly opposed by the commander, Admiral James O. Richardson, that he personally protested in Washington. Political considerations were thought sufficiently important that he was relieved by Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, who was in command at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. ... When the attack took place, all three carriers were absent]

Japanese Mock Attack On Pearl Harbour - December 1940 (1940) - YouTube ref., 4.5 minutes | Published by British Pathé]

This is from Google's cache of: https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2016/12/07/
pearl-harbor-75th-anniversary-world-war-ii/91973380/

For months and months, the [U.S.] Navy had been launching mock attacks, dropping flour bags on the airfield.

“We were used to seeing planes — I had no thought they weren’t ours.”

============

Attack on Pearl Harbor - Wikipedia

As early as 1924, Chief of U.S. Air Service Mason Patrick displayed a concern for military vulnerabilities in the Pacific, having sent Gen. Billy Mitchell on a survey of the Pacific and the East. Patrick called Mitchell's subsequent report, which identified vulnerabilities in Hawaii, a “theoretical treatise on employment of airpower in the Pacific, which, in all probability undoubtedly will be of extreme value some 10 or 15 years hence.” [145]

At least two naval war games, one in 1932 and another in 1936, proved that Pearl was vulnerable to such an attack. Admiral James Richardson was removed from command shortly after protesting President Roosevelt's decision to move the bulk of the Pacific fleet to Pearl Harbor.[146][147]

Admiral Harry E. Yarnell - Wikipedia

was an American naval officer whose career spanned over 51 years and three wars, from the Spanish–American War through World War II.

Among his achievements was proving, in 1932 war games, that Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to a naval aerial attack. His findings were dismissed by his superiors until the Imperial Japanese Navy's Pearl Harbor attack went just as Yarnell had predicted.
>
In February 1932, Yarnell pioneered carrier tactics in an exercise called Army/Navy Grand Joint Exercise 4. Rear Admiral Yarnell commanded the carriers Lexington and Saratoga in an effort to demonstrate that Hawaii was vulnerable to naval air power. The expectation was that Yarnell would attack with battleships, but instead he left his battleships behind and proceeded only with his carriers to the north of Hawaii where it was less likely he would be detected. With a storm as cover, at dawn on Sunday, 7 February, Yarnell’s 152 planes attacked the harbor from the northeast, just as the Japanese would ten years later. The army airfields were first put out of commission after which Battleship Row was attacked, with multiple hits on navy ships. No defending aircraft were able to launch. The Navy’s war-game umpires declared the attack a total success, prompting Yarnell to strenuously warn of the Japanese threat.[3]

The New York Times reported on the exercise, noting the defenders were unable to find the attacking fleet even after 24 hours had passed. U.S. intelligence knew Japanese writers had reported on the exercise. Ironically, in the U.S., the battleship admirals voted down a reassessment of naval tactics. The umpire's report did not even mention the stunning success of Yarnell's exercise. Instead they wrote, "It is doubtful if air attacks can be launched against Oahu in the face of strong defensive aviation without subjecting the attacking carriers to the danger of material damage and consequent great losses in the attack air force."[4]

Captain Joseph Rochefort - Wikipedia

American naval officer [who] was an expert Japanese linguist and trained cryptanalyst.

He was a major figure in the United States Navy's cryptographic and intelligence operations from 1925 to 1946, particularly in the Battle of Midway. His contributions and those of his team were pivotal to victory in the Pacific War.

Rochefort had a close working relationship with [Rear Admiral] Edwin T. Layton, whom he first met on the voyage to Tokyo where both men were sent to learn Japanese at the Navy's request. In 1941, Layton was the chief intelligence officer for Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC). Both [Layton] and Rochefort were denied access to decrypts of diplomatic messages sent in [the Japanese code] Purple, the highest level diplomatic cypher, in the months before the Japanese attack, on the orders of the director of the War Plans Division, [Admiral] Richmond K. Turner.[10]

When an army officer named Patton in 1938 warned War Dept.of what was coming, someone should have paid attention. The Navy was in charge of entire Pacific.

First land action was on Guam 8 Dec. 1941. Guam Marines were 490 in number, armed with rifles and one machine gun. Japan invaded with 5000 men, fighter aircraft, cannons and tanks. It was a slaughter.

Did we KNOW they were coming???? YES...Proof???? American military and government civilians, HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM GUAM IN JUNE 1941...

Well, Lenin died a long time ago so I don't expect he'll be taking too many more steps forward.

Sarcasm noted.

Lenin is still on display in Moscow, still very much in vogue, nearly 100 years after his demise. Very odd.

Thanks for all that. Few will read or care.

When an army officer named Patton in 1938 warned War Dept.of what was coming, someone should have paid attention. The Navy was in charge of entire Pacific.

First land action was on Guam 8 Dec. 1941. Guam Marines were 490 in number, armed with rifles and one machine gun. Japan invaded with 5000 men, fighter aircraft, cannons and tanks. It was a slaughter.

Did we KNOW they were coming???? YES...Proof???? American military and government civilians, HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM GUAM IN JUNE 1941...

Thanks for reading and commenting, sir, and for the many instructional viewpoints on these sad subjects in search of truth about the various orchestrations of malevolence, mockeries, attacks and such that manuevered America and much of the world into disastrous wars of Global Scale twice. The world needs better defenses against the devious deliberations of War Manipulators. Charges of Crimes Against Humanity, Crimes Against Peace and War Crimes are applicable to them, imo.

Even though the post I sent was quite wordy, it would have been wordier if I, too, hadn't forgotten to include something about the shallow water issue of Pearl Harbor; as comparative to an earlier attack by the British on the night of Armistice Day: November 11–12, 1940 that destroyed half of Italy's fleet (indiana.edu ref.) anchored in its shallow water home port at Taranto. Am still working on making a revised posting later with more about that.

November 11–12, 1940 that destroyed half of Italy's fleet (indiana.edu ref.) anchored in its shallow water home port at Taranto.

Good heavens, good homework...

After Taranto success by the British, the Japs knew they were on the right track.

If you look the Japs had a high level spy in Brit navy that was expert on torpedo bombing. He sold all info to them. Cannot recall his name now but he was not prosecuted because he was distant member of Royal Family or some such. Memory fails me. His sellout ensured Japs success at Pearl Harbor.

Putin is an Orthordox Christian/Catholic, I think, as is much of Russia. I agree Russia is no longer communist as they now allow all adults to vote, unlike during the Communist reign where only Communist party members could vote. I can see how the accusation of Putin being a dictator can be argued given he's won the last 5 or so elections, and I have spoken with a Russian woman who says candidates not liked by their version of the Deep State are sometimes paid visits by state authorities to "discuss" their campaigns and ambitions, but.... I'm not sure how the end result is much different than here in the USA where entities like the DNC chooses their nominees while ignoring the electorate. We do have a Deep State which is basically the core of career Government workers at the top in all departments/ministries who think they know what's better for the USA than the electorate does, and implement that with the attitude that such duties are required of them and their execution could never be any violation of the law regardless of what the law says.

It's all the same crap worldwide so in my view illusioned purists in the USA have no grounds for criticizing countries like Russia and Iran for possibly having sham elections.

I have to wonder if the Russian woman said that while regime change "advocates" like John McCain were there "influentially" or not. I very much agree, though, with your statements about the electoral-dictatorship intents here of the DNC and the post-election interference intents by Deep State careerists, which are largely DNC-allied installations, as far as I can determine to date. Not only does the DNC choose their own candidate instead of the electorate, they and their Deep Staters, et al. adjuncts are all busily in the process of trying to nullify the Republican votes of the 2016 Presidential election (that Republicans won) - by their impeachment baffooneries. The Democrat Party should be abolished. Then Americans should probably consider having two separate general-elections for Republicans and Independents (who aren't Socialist/Communist), similar to Primary elections and our Founders' original intent for the winner of the apportioned Electoral College votes to become President, with the 2nd place candidate becoming the Vice-President.

The underlined statement above in your post is the only thing that I think should be disputed as something of geo-political importance, in regard to public perceptions that Putin is a Russian dictator. Actually, he didn't win the last 5 or so elections - not consecutively, anyway. It just might seem that way because the Press and others have a tendancy to blur his Presidencies with Medvedev's, as if there was no Medvedev Presidency for 4 years from 2008 to 2012. Prior to that, Putin won 2 elections of 4-year terms each as President from 2000 to 2008 and he won 2 elections of 4-year terms each as President again, from 2012-2020, after Medvedev. Just saying as FYI so that those "Democracy-irregularity" impressions of Putin being dictatorial can be re-adjusted accordingly about that.

Putin is an Orthordox Christian/Catholic, I think, as is much of Russia. I agree Russia is no longer communist

I would strongly disagree.

"""VLADIMIR""" Putins grandfather spent his entire lifetime as personal cook for """VLADIMIR""" Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Putin rose thru the ranks of the KGB to become "president". For life.

Pinguinite @ #11: Putin is an Orthordox Christian/Catholic, I think, as is much of Russia. I agree Russia is no longer communist

Cynicom @ #33: I would strongly disagree. """VLADIMIR""" Putins grandfather spent his entire lifetime as personal cook for """VLADIMIR""" Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Putin rose thru the ranks of the KGB to become "president". For life.

BTP Holdings @ #34: Vlad is like a snake that sheds his skin. Communism is still ingrained in the fabric of Russia, and Lenin's body still on display is proof of this. ;)

So far it's a tie vote, 2 agree and 2 disagree. Let's call a truce on the religious matters for now and wait a bit to discuss the Communist aspect until Pinquinite returns and/or one or more other posters arrive to chime in with their views of what they think Russia should do to reasonably qualify as no longer a Communist dictatorship.

So far it's a tie vote, 2 agree and 2 disagree. Let's call a truce on the religious matters for now and wait a bit to discuss the Communist aspect until Pinquinite returns and/or one or more other posters arrive to chime in with their views of what they think Russia should do to reasonably qualify as no longer Communist.

One thing that should be done is to define "communist", because the USA actually implements a lot of the planks of the communist manifesto... public schooling and a progressive income tax being 2 that come to mind. Of course we have social security which is the very embodiment of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need".

So classifying a country as communist or capitalist is not a litmus or pregnancy test type of thing where each country is clearly either one or the other. There are shades of gray here, and for that reason, discussing it is probably a bit fruitless as each opinion is as good as any other.

I have watched a number of interviews and press statements made by Putin, though all of which were subtitled of course, and my impression of the guy is he's intelligent and rational. I would call him cunning as well, as he plays his cards carefully, which is one reason why I do not believe he was behind the Skripal poisoning. He's just too sophisticated and smart to do something that rash and stupid. (I say Israel is the prime suspect to frame Russia as Israel was certainly very frustrated with Russia's involvement in Syria at the time. If so, Israel framed Russia about perfectly, with the result being a huge tactical success if only a limited strategic success.)

I simply do not buy into Cyni's perspective of "never trust a Russian -- your life depends on it". People are people. None are saints, all have faults, but most are good people, or at least have good intent. We do need to be wary. We do need to recognize that well intended people can screw things up royally for everyone else. But we also need to stop living in the 1970's. The cold war is over. The west won. As for Putin's grand father, assuming that's true, I'd pay it no mind. I don't think I ever even met either of my Grandfathers, and people define their own selves. Russia has been through a huge transition since the 1990's. They've paid dearly for their marxist policies and I think the lessons have been too severe for them not to have learned. That as opposed to the USA which has the whole of the D party practically embracing it. So between the USA and Russia, the country that is in the most danger of embracing communism more over the next 20 years is the USA. Not Russia.

So classifying a country as communist or capitalist is not a litmus or pregnancy test type of thing

Disagree...

Communism since its inception nearly two hundred years ago, has operated on a two tier level of world control. It has always advocated control by two means, internal revolution by bloodshed, or outright military force if necessary.

Communism has but one goal, one world government, by any method necessary.

Here is history of the family tree. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Sem pill

And then more about the one you are referring to in your comment. ;)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil...empill,_19th_Lord_Sempil l

William Francis Forbes-Sempill, 19th Lord Sempill AFC, AFRAeS,[1] (24 September 1893 – 30 December 1965) was a Scottish peer and record-breaking air pioneer who was later shown to have passed secret information to the Imperial Japanese military before the Second World War.

Sempill who was involved

Semphill was not a spy per se, he was in it strictly for money.

Disagree...

Communism since its inception nearly two hundred years ago, has operated on a two tier level of world control. It has always advocated control by two means, internal revolution by bloodshed, or outright military force if necessary.

Communism has but one goal, one world government, by any method necessary.

Cyni, how exactly, or even generally, is that any different from what the USA has been doing particularly since 911? The USA has been seeking to control: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, and also its European allies, forcing them to go along with Iran sanctions when they are really not in the mood. And there are so many other countries that aren't even listed. We have troops and bases all over the friggin world.

The US Deep State wants to control the world, by any means necessary. This desire for power is not marketed under communism. It's marketed under human nature. It's a Lord of the Rings style desire for power.

The USSR dissolved and NATO has absorbed the former Warsaw Pact countries, moving eastward and now borders Russia itself. We can't be so fixated with this idea that Russia is the center of evil world domination plans that we completely miss it when the USA is doing what we accused the USSR of doing from the 50's to the 80's.

Semphill was not a spy per se, he was in it strictly for money.

That one thing has been an over riding factor for centuries, even when Judas betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver.

BTW, when the priests found the silver, they said it would not be right to put it in the church treasury. So they bought a piece of ground to bury foreigners and it is still there today. ;)

We have troops and bases all over the friggin world.

Excellent summation of visual and factual American world policy.

What is often not understood and or unseen takes an open mind to weigh the "good and bad" of foreign policy.

Wars are lucrative for a few, bleeding and dying for the majority, that WILL NEVER CHANGE. Thinking about living happily ever after is naive to the extreme.

Advent of WWII, six major countries had dictators. The two largest remain to this day, both seeking world domination. Both are long time and mortal enemies, the one and only viable counter balance is the US.

In Asia, the greatest fear of Japan, SE Asia and Australia is that the US will withdraw to Hawaii. Were we to withdraw from Europe, Putin would be fishing in the English Channel, from his back porch.

Three world powers in this scene, US, Russia and China. I know of no one that is a student of history and geo/politics that believes we can come home and live happily ever after. That is not reality nor reasonable.

Russia's back is up against the wall. Though they do have the population advantage, they don't have the financial means to match the ground military might of western Europe alone, so I don't consider the thought of Russia invading all of Europe, east and west, a realistic concern.

But... you can have last word.

I don't consider the thought of Russia invading all of Europe, east and west, a realistic concern.

During Reagan administration, I had opportunity to spend an evening chatting with and listening to, three Ministers from West German government. They and my mutual friend had no illusions about Russia.

Foreign policy must deal in reality, for instance, Russia would like to see the US leave Europe, BUT NOT ASIA. What is their concern in both areas???