Eurofed
Banned
Ok folks, we have all heard the media, it has been 20 years since Nazifascism collapsed. Despite what many thought during the Cold War, it did not end up with America and Nazifascist Europe tossing each other ICBMs across the Atlantic.
Thanks to the wisdom of Schmidt (really, the man would deserve better press in his own country; Germany was going to lose its bloody empire anyway, we all owe him if the death-throes of Nazifascism did not end in a bloodbath or nuclear annihilation) and the peaceful defiance of German, Italian, French et al. masses yearning to taste American prosperity and superior consumer technology, get the state off their backs, and stop the endless line of soldier caskets coming back from Russia, Europe amazingly returned to freedom and democracy without any violence, and Germany, Italy, and their allies peacefully retired to their post-WWII national borders. Truly the "Velvet Revolution" remains a pivotal historical moment.
But despite the enthusiasm when it occurred, the post-Cold War World has not been a bed of roses, either. Large swaths of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa remain an absolute mess, terrorism an horrible plague, nobody ever paid for the crimes of Nazifascism, and democratic Germany and Italy are still tempted by semi-authoritarian nationalism and act like their old geopolitical turfs and their nationals that the irresponsible actions of their past regimes scattered all over the Old World are their divine right.
Looking back, how do you think things could and should have gone, about the Cold War and its aftermath (NOT about WWII's outcome, please; there cannot be a worse AH cliche than "WI Soviet Russia had won WWII") and looking forward, how do think things are going to be ?
Thanks to the wisdom of Schmidt (really, the man would deserve better press in his own country; Germany was going to lose its bloody empire anyway, we all owe him if the death-throes of Nazifascism did not end in a bloodbath or nuclear annihilation) and the peaceful defiance of German, Italian, French et al. masses yearning to taste American prosperity and superior consumer technology, get the state off their backs, and stop the endless line of soldier caskets coming back from Russia, Europe amazingly returned to freedom and democracy without any violence, and Germany, Italy, and their allies peacefully retired to their post-WWII national borders. Truly the "Velvet Revolution" remains a pivotal historical moment.
But despite the enthusiasm when it occurred, the post-Cold War World has not been a bed of roses, either. Large swaths of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa remain an absolute mess, terrorism an horrible plague, nobody ever paid for the crimes of Nazifascism, and democratic Germany and Italy are still tempted by semi-authoritarian nationalism and act like their old geopolitical turfs and their nationals that the irresponsible actions of their past regimes scattered all over the Old World are their divine right.
Looking back, how do you think things could and should have gone, about the Cold War and its aftermath (NOT about WWII's outcome, please; there cannot be a worse AH cliche than "WI Soviet Russia had won WWII") and looking forward, how do think things are going to be ?