Re: Whatever Happened to the Powell Doctrine? From Overwhelming Force to Barely Enough Force

Stanley Moore wrote:
"Francis A. Miniter" <faminiter@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:i0oai5$p7m$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Stanley Moore wrote:
"Mike Burke" <mburke@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:0tdu2695h8m6fjfc34d0dp8f7p1idoi20u@xxxxxxxxxx
On Sat, 3 Jul 2010 00:22:06 -0500, "Stanley Moore"
<smoore20@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Yes, hundreds of thousands of disgruntled young men with no prospects could
be a nightmare. It's a problem. I tend to be somewhat isolationist and think
it would be best were we to disengage from the world stage gradually and
retreat behind "Fortress America"/ On the other hand it would expose us to
danger if we had not he ability or desire to project our power beyond our
shores.
Which is a good reason, and indeed the most compelling reason, for
forward defence which implies continuing engagement on the world
stage. Isolationism is an unsustainable policy.

Mique
It works for Swirzerland among others <G> Take care

Switzerland has always had almost all of its (male) population militarily trained and in the reserves. Hitler was quite happy not to have to face an uphill battle in snow against more than two million soldiers under arms. Neutral, yes. Unprepared, no. Isolationist - only in that it does not provide troops to NATO or the UN, etc. The Vatican excepted.

--
Francis A. Miniter

It wasn't just the difficulty of invading the place that gave Hitler pause. The Nazis also found Switzerland a convenient parking place for their loot, stolen from the Jews and others. Swiss banks were complicit in the Holocaust and even to this day have failed to account for everything stolen during the Third Reich. People who stashed their goods in the Swiss banks for safety sometimes had a hard time (or their heirs) getting it back. <uch was stolen from the Jews.

I have been researching this issue for a while now. Hitler established the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg ("ERR") on July 5, 1940, for the purpose of collecting and cataloging art plundered from occupied territories, and most certainly from Jews who fled Europe or who were taken away to concentration camps. Plunder thus obtained was kept and controlled by the Nazis. Some was stored in salt mines, for instance. Various storehouses across eastern Germany and eastern Europe were also used. The intention of Hitler was eventually to display these artifacts eventually in a Germany museum dedicated to the art of all the many lands conquered by the Nazis. To the best of my knowledge, none of this catalogued art ended up in Swiss banks, unless there was fraud by German military personnel making it appear that a catalogued piece had perished.

After the war, the western allies freed up the art that they found in mines and elsewhere. The same was not true on the Soviet side. Storehouses in the East, e.g., Leipzig or Riga, were simply taken over by the Soviet occupying forces, and the art remained stored there until the collapse of the Soviet empire. Thereafter, claims of ownership began to be asserted as to that art.

Swiss banks got the art they had in at least a couple of ways. (1) Jewish collectors stored it there before being seized by the Nazis. With their deaths went the knowledge of where the art was stored, and the banks had an element of free reign over the assets. (2) Individual Nazis, politicians or military men, got a hold of art before it reached the hands of the ERR, and tried to provide for their own futures by salting it away in Swiss banks.



It was a hotbed of espionage during the war and was thus useful to all sides. Secret meetings and deals could be worked out in relative anonymity and it was centrally located bordered by Italy, France and Germany.

There are plenty of non aligned nations that do not try to project onto the worked stage. I know it is impossible for someone as large as the US to retire from the world despite Washington's advice to avoid foreign entanglements. I certainly would like to see quite a bit less foreign affairs... it would cost less for one thing. Take care


--
Francis A. Miniter

In dem Lande der Pygmäen
gibt es keine Uniformen,
weder Abzeichen, noch irgend welche Normen,
Und Soldaten sind dort nicht zu sehen.

Siegfried von Vegesack, "Es gibt keine Uniformen"
from In dem Lande der Pygmäen
.

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