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KichiVerde on 22 September 2010
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bazmeistergen said:
KichiVerde said:


Stalin was a bit of an arse!

American policy was not dictated by a moral desire to stop Stalin though, was it? It was more about US interests.

Stalin a bit of an arse? That is an understatement. He was probably the most evil man that ever lived. He killed milllions, and what's worse he did it mostly to his own people. But back to the close of WW2.

 Ill sum it up for you.

At the Yalta Convention Roosevelt bent over backwards to get Stalin to agree to invade Japanese held territory in North Eastern Asia, and if it came down to it, help invade Japan itself. Russian's invasion, they decided, was to start 90 days after the fall of Germany, whenever that would be. After Germany surrendered the big three got together again at the Potsdam Conference. It was then very clear what Stalin's intentions were. He had it in mind to bring every country that was even remotely within Russia's sphere of influence under his complete control. Truman (Roosevelt had since died) and Churchill both understood that Stalin's policy  would apply to East Asia as well if the war did not end soon. Thus the two made up their minds to have the bomb dropped before Russia's invasion, given that Japan did not already surrender by then. But it was only one of many reasons why they made the decision. If anything it hastened the nuclear attack.

88 days after Germany's fall, on August 6th, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima. Three days later Fat Man fell while Russia launched a full scale attack on Manchuria. On August 15th Japan surrendered. By the time the US landed on Incheon in September the Russians had already claimed all of Manchuria and the northern part of Korea. Manchuria they held on to until Mao Zedong won the Chinese civil war. Stalin then returned it to the Communist Chinese, but not before completely plundering the land. North Korea remained under Soviet control until Kim Il-sung went rouge sometime in the mid 60s. in any event both China and North Korea were screwed for decades to come, as were all the Easter Block countries.

Meanwhile Japan and Western Germany (which were reconstructed by the Allies) went on to become the world's 2nd and 3rd largest economies in the next few decades.

Germany was going to pay the west reparations after the war, but the policy was changed when they realised that it would be better to have a stronger West Germany to support the various allies' 'national' interest. I'm personally glad the Americans national interest was in helping the other allies recover because as a European my countries did well out of US policy.

However, instead of comparing US policy in Europe with Soviet actions we should look at the US actions in the western hemisphere. Things weren't so rosy there.

I don't think Stalin was the most evil person, but that's because I think evil is a useless term. He was clearly mentally imbalanced and his policies were disastrous, but many deaths came as a result of changes to the way the USSR was organised rather than purposeful killings such as in Germany. He may not have cared that these people died, but that is still different to genocide. I do know that he was a racist and a paranoid nationalist madman.

He probably believed that the sacrifice of these people was for a noble purpose (ie the ends justify the means, but in this case he didn't get the end he desired). Some people have justified the atomic bombs with a similar rationale but with a ending that could (but not absolutely) be seen as a better, happier one.

I agree. America's foreign policy in Latin America has been exploitative and horrendous. But there is a difference between exploiting a country and bringing it under direct control, then ruling it with an iron fist. Moreover, while America has contributed to many of Latin America's woes, the majority of the countries' problems stem from Spanish Colonialism, classism, the wealth gap, corruption and so on.

And Stalin was evil. He had no disregard for human life whatsoever, not even that of his own people. You look at other leaders whose leadership caused the death of millions, Hitler, Genghis Khan, Napoleon. These guys committed atrocious acts against their enemies, but they did it for what they believed was the betterment of their own countries.  Not so in the case of Stalin. He was all about control at any cost. He never even thought to choose a clear successor. It was all about him.

You can point out many examples of his cruelty and paranoia, but what gets me is the following. During his meetings with Roosevelt and Churchill he had to use an interpreter because he didnt speak English. After the interpreter had served his purpose Stalin would have the man shot and the body dumped. Straight up cold blooded.