Bush Plays the Hitler Card/Pat Buchanan is a Dweeb

Bush Plays the Hitler Card

I consider Pat Buchanan as one of the best commentators and interviewers for conservative causes. But I do have some problems with his thoughts on that article.

Quote:

German tanks, however, did not roll into Poland until a year later, Sept. 1, 1939. Why did the tanks roll? Because Poland refused to negotiate over Danzig, a Baltic port of 350,000 that was 95 percent German and had been taken from Germany at the Paris peace conference of 1919, in violation of Wilson's 14 Points and his principle of self-determination.

So since the Poles did not appease to Hitler on a minor territory that they then deserved the invasion? But Buchanan has covered a lot of history without too much substance, so let us explore some more. Gdansk was a "Free City" as described by the treaty and through its history it was under a variety of hegemonic forces including Poland
Image:Border changes in history of Poland.
Now we can see from the maps that Danzig was not part of the continuous territory called Germany. So what did Germany want beyond just a sea port?

Quote:

The Nazis demanded the return of Danzig to Germany along with an exterritorial highway for land-based access to the Third Reich through the area of the Polish Corridor. However, when the German Nazi Government secured Soviet approval for aggression against Poland, a decision was made to launch a full-out offensive regardless of any Polish willingness to negotiate successions.

Some of the same issues that face Israel and Palestine over the decades. But the question is why did Poland not feel so much desire to give them their highway and the small territory? It could be because of the lost of their eastern territories as shown in the above map which also played out in the Curzon Line. We also need to put Danzig in some historical perspective by noting the various actions by Germany in the Silesian Uprisings. Since Buchanan brings up the 14 points, which I am not sure why, it should be noted that one point states:

Quote:

13. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.

Which they considered their "free and secure access to the sea" even if it was a free city.

Quote:

Hitler had not wanted war with Poland. He had wanted an alliance with Poland in his anti-Comintern pact against Joseph Stalin.

Kind of silly to say Hitler did not want war. Everyone wants to avoid war, as long as they can get it for free. Why pay? And if Hitler's primary contention was his Anti-Comintern Pact pacts then why did it seem to have nearly everyone he could convince to join but then willing to sign pacts with Stalin? I guess since Britain was "invited" to join his pact, he could have used it to justify their invasion also.

Quote:

But the Poles refused to negotiate. Why? Because they were a proud, defiant, heroic people and because Neville Chamberlain had insanely given an unsolicited war guarantee to Poland. If Hitler invaded, Chamberlain told the Poles, Britain would declare war on Germany. From March to August 1939, Hitler tried to negotiate Danzig. But the Poles, confident in their British war guarantee, refused. So, Hitler cut his deal with Stalin, and the two invaded and divided Poland.

Sure it is nice to blame Chamberlain for the Polish defeat but their are other pacts and treaties that were not fulfilled. Most of this history is spelled out in the Western Betrayal of Poland.

Quote:

The cost of the war that came of a refusal to negotiate Danzig was millions of Polish dead, the Katyn massacre, Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz, the annihilation of the Home Army in the Warsaw uprising of 1944, and 50 years of Nazi and Stalinist occupation, barbarism and terror. In that same speech to the Knesset, Bush dismissed the idea we could ever successfully negotiate with Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran:

What makes Buchanan think that if they had negotiated over Danzig that there would not have been a war? We have to see what their intentions were and the pattern that was being played out. As Poland already got to see what Chamberlain's proclamations resulted in the formation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, they were naturally not willing to concede such territories on just the Nazis desires.

But beyond this negotiate or not negotiate questions, you must be assured that the opposing side will adhere to the agreements and whether they can or are willing to renege. Shirley Vian negotiated a deal and helped him out, did it help her? While my example was of evil perpetuated on a personal level, Buchanan also mixes between non-state actors and States. It seems obvious that Nation States and the other groups are going to take different types of negotiations.

Let me proceed to the Nazis and their ideology. What would have satisfied them based on their ideology? Well the first clue is provided in Statements by Hitler and Senior Nazis Concerning Jews and Judaism. Poland was the "killing fields" for Germany {German camps in occupied Poland during World War II}. Lastly, Hitler's Political Views:

Quote:

Hitler lived in Vienna for several years, working at odd jobs and absorbing the ideas of Austrian right-wing extremists. In 1913, he left Vienna and moved to Munich in southern Germany. He took with him the basic political ideas to which he would remain committed for the balance of his life. Central to Hitler's thought were his notions of race. He believed in the racial superiority of the Germanic peoples (the Aryan race) and in the inferiority of other races, especially Jews but also Slavs and blacks. Hitler also advocated the Pan-German ideology that was popular among many Austrian extremists. Pan-Germanism held the view that all Germans should be united in a single state. In addition, Hitler was hostile to the ideology of Marxism, which emphasized the unity of the international working class rather than racial solidarity.

So he was asking several states to give up their sovereignty to "all Germans". What makes us believe that other states were not also desired to be split up or dismantled? Heck the USA had a lot more German citizens than that and even a significant number of German born.

Does that last ideology remind us of another ideology?
How Would Iran Read Obama?
The New Appeasers

And for all those out there that do not get the post maybe this will help: Nazi

If We Could Talk to the Animals