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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Slagle who wrote (15914)	3/24/2007 6:57:30 PM
From: Gib Bogle	Respond to of 218633

There are Reds under the bed!

To: Slagle who wrote (15914)	3/24/2007 11:52:00 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 218633

enough japanese knew japan would lose the war, when they first entered shanghai, before they arrived in pearl harbour just as enough germans knew russia would be the burial ground of nazi germany, even if england were to fall war is not won just by force of arms, but by the passage of time and the application of sustained will to win time is never, ever, with the invaders, because there cannot be sustained will to win germany and japan would have lost, eventually and naturally, in all cases they merely expedited the loss cause by having invaded too many nations at the same time the vietnam war was for national independence, and for freedom from the yoke of colonialism, nothing more, and as no other political system delivered on what the people wanted, communism did, and the people got what they wanted and deserved, but that is another matter - important point is that invaders lost, again change frame, usa is invading here there and everywhere, now, again, because its people, in the aggregate, want to, nothing more, and will get what is inevitably coming, nothing less solid ground? so you believe, and that was precisely the sort of muddled thinking that got you into the quagmire and the sand pits ... reflect, ponder, and realize the truth trillion dollars later otoh, to think that the japanese invaders and chiang kaishek could have/would have pacified china in concert against the 400 million of have-nots is like believing that iraq could have been paved with roses <<your own grandfather was Foreign Minister of China, both before and after the Japanese invasion>> ... not quite, his term stopped in 1923. As to what he thought of the big picture of that time, I am fortunate in that I no longer have to wonder, since some kind soul, out of the clear blue, contacted me this past January and has since forwarded to me the scanned diaries and letters and news articles of grandpa dating from 1938 to 1944. Apparently the kind soul's grandparents were charged with smuggling out the papers from Japanese-occupied Eastern China to Japanese-occupied Singapore. The man himself was left with the papers by his grandmother in 1973 at side of deathbed, but hadn't opened the steamer trunk until 2000, and only recently got hold of my e-mail this past January thanks to Google. The contents of the papers are brilliant, and as far as predictiveness, <<make the sort of profound judgement that seemingly comes easy>> Amongst the papers is an open letter written to Chamberlin in 1938 that spec-ed out the alternative scenarios over the coming years, in events and motivations, but not in timing, including all of the big powers, and guess what ... bang on. BTW, i might add, the natural progression, had japan gotten hold of the bomb first, is that your then primary language would be japanese, and your then japanese-speaking parliament would also debate whether 13 is the right age consent for teenage girls, and instead of coca cola vending machines, your streets would be decorated with machines that sell teenage girls used underwear. so, going back in time, you have a choice, of enabling the peasant majority to exercising their free will by force of arms, blood sweat and tears, to form a peasant republic that will surely bring on teotwawki in our life time, or a state of is where you speak japanese, and walk past machines that sell soiled teenagers underwear. so, what kind of man would you have been? Chiang kaishek chose, fundamentally wrong, and as a result, went against the will of the people, and lost. You do believe in the power of people power, do you not? Back on course, in such matters of war, no thanks are necessary, as all are doing self a favor ... do not go the route of the small-mindedness of renaming fried potato as freedom fries, for after all, the French, out of self interest or altruism, did help to bring modern America along, though most of the lifting are necessarily done by the locals. The result would not have been different, only the timing. In all cases, all around the world, we are always witnessing the actions of people power ... and it is fascinating, always, enlightening at times, useful at other times, and rewarding, occasionally. Another BTW, some of the scanned letter are on fancy Peninsula Hotel stationary, 10 years after after the Great Depression. It seems grandpa survived the Great 'Recession' and financed his China activities off of income received from his brothers who managed his oil fields in the west indies. Recommendation: accumulate oil field, hoard gold, ... well, you know, and stay away from revolutions if one can help it

To: Slagle who wrote (15914)	3/25/2007 4:24:13 AM
From: Snowshoe	Respond to of 218633

Slagle, The Japanese wanted to invade the Soviet Union! But Marshal Zhukov kicked their asses in one of the most important and least known battles of WWII... THE LAST WEEK - THE ROAD TO WAR Chapter 1 Tokyo, August 30, 1939 by David H. Lippman usswashington.com <snip> The attraction of the sparse, empty, and remote Mongolian and Asian plains may seem baffling to the armchair American or British observer, but the Soviets and Japanese rightly regard each other's presence in Far East Asia as a threat to the other. Both nations have already fought a massive war for control of Manchuria in the 20th century. Japanese troops occupied Siberia from 1918 to 1922. Stalin has good reason to fear and dislike Japan beyond his usual paranoia. The winner of this bizarre conflict could become the new dominant force in Asia. Now two great modern powers square off amid dusty plains once dominated by Attila the Hun and Kublai Khan. On August 7-9, 1939, the Japanese attack at Lake Khasan, 70 miles southwest of Vladivostok, at the junction of the USSR, Manchuria, and Korea. 7,000 Japanese troops, backed by tanks, cavalry, planes, and artillery, take on Soviet defenders. The Japanese suffer 500 dead and 900 wounded, while the Soviets lose 400 dead and 2,700 wounded. The Japanese are astounded by the ferocity of the Soviet defenders, who are members of an army that has just had most of its officers purged for "disloyalty." In fact, shortly after the battle, Marshal Vassily Blucher, the commander of the Soviet military district, is hauled back to Moscow for his own treason show trial. But the Japanese refuse to back off. Although the Soviet Union is a colossus, their troops in Vladivostok are at the end of a long supply line, most of their troops are facing Germany, and their officer corps is a shambles from purges. Japan's forces are close to their industrial base in Manchuria and bursting with high morale from their training and conquests. The Japanese decide to hurl their troops at the Mongolian border, at Khalkin-Gol, 450 miles from the nearest Soviet railhead. The Japanese say the border lies along the river. The Soviets say it lies 30 kilometers to the east of the river. <snip> Zhukov keeps his plans highly secret. He gives his officers the word on August 17 that they will attack in three days. He passes that word to the NCOs only three hours before the attack, which is made amid heavy fog. Zhukov has 57,000 men, 24,000 tons of ammunition, 515 planes, 542 heavy guns and mortars, 498 tanks, 385 armored cars, and 2,255 machine guns. Zhukov splits his team into three groups. The big punch is the Southern Force. Zhukov holds the bulk of his guns and vehicles in his reserve striking force, giving him flexibility of command - but not to his subordinates. He will thus be able to quickly reinforce success. His plans accept the fact of heavy casualties. Zhukov intends to encircle the Japanese and crush them between the river and the frontier. The Japanese field 75,000 men, 303 planes, 182 tanks, and 500 large guns. The Japanese know nothing of the Soviet plans, and are readying their own attack on August 24. Japanese intelligence picks up indications the Russians will attack. The Japanese high command, disdainful of its enemies, ignores the reports, and continues to prepare its own attack. On August 20, the Soviets beat the Japanese to the punch, when 150 bombers and 100 fighters swoop over the Japanese front lines at 5:45 a.m., bombing and strafing Japanese positions. The Japanese continue preparing their attack. A three-hour artillery barrage, followed by a massive combined-arms assault of infantry, cavalry, and tanks, surprises the Japanese. It takes them hours to organize resistance. It is the first real armored offensive of the 20th century. The Japanese 23rd Infantry Division is torn apart. Two of the regimental commanders burn their flags. Then one commits seppuku with his samurai sword while the other charges headlong into Soviet machine-guns. Zhukov's Northern Group bursts through the Japanese instead of the Southern Group, so Zhukov changes the axis of attack. Tanks are told to drive into the Japanese as far as possible, avoid strongpoints, and leave them for the follow-up forces…straight out of Blitzkrieg warfare. Japanese T97 tanks clank into action and are chopped up by Soviet bombers, being used as flying artillery. <snip> The Japanese defeat is followed by another shocker for Tokyo: announcement of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. The Soviets have just delivered a two-fisted punch to end Japanese ambitions in Siberia. The Japanese press is furious, with the Asahi Shimbun shouting, "The spirit of the Anti-Comintern Pact has been trampled underfoot! It is reduced to a scrap of paper and Germany has betrayed an ally." The Hiranuma government resigns, forcing Yamamoto back to the fleet. Now the Japanese cannot expect to dominate the Soviets through force of their own arms or through German political pressure. The Japanese begin negotiations with the Soviets for an exchange of prisoners, followed by an armistice. Ultimately they will create a four-member commission to resolve the border demarcation issues. The impact of this odd battle is manifold. The biggest winner is General Zhukov, whose victory catapults him to the forefront of Soviet military leadership. The Japanese must re-assess their plans for the Far East. In 1941, instead of joining Hitler's attack on Russia, they will put all their energies into conquering Southeast Asia. Had they attacked Russia alongside Hitler in 1941, the Soviet Union might have collapsed. The Soviet victory also impresses one other group of Asians: the Communist Chinese, who see that the Japanese can be defeated. The Soviets send in more supplies. <snip> The tactics and operational art Zhukov has tested at Khalkin-Gol will become the standards by which the Soviet Army will conduct its war against the Germans from Moscow to Berlin. With the Manchurian border now quiet, the Soviets will be able to strip it nearly bare of troops for the great counterattacks at Moscow and Stalingrad. And the Japanese will show a complete refusal, despite German pleas, to attack the Soviet Union again. The Japanese discard their plans for a 45-division offensive into Siberia, to drive the Russians back to the Urals. It is one of the decisive battles of history. Yet because of its distance from Europe and America, because of the secretive nature of its combatants and the obscurity of its issues, Khalkin-Gol disappears into the shadows of history, remembered only by those who fought in it and those who study it. <snip>