Talk:Scenario: World War III (Obama vs. Putin)/@comment-26577560-20150721020034/@comment-26294986-20150722135619

To Lung nan. I strongly recommend you review Western European history specifically the German invasion of Czechoslovakia and the Munich aggreement that followed. In order for the invasion to commence Hitler required justfication. Goebbel's(Minister of Propaganda) job was to convince the world that and the German people that Czechoslovakia was an evil country oppressing the ethnic Germans aka were murdering them and putting into concentration camps. With the assistance of Konrad Henlein(Leader of NAZI party in Sudenland) and German agents provocations were generated and then promptly sezied on by Goebbel's as proof that Germany needed to come to the rescuce of Sudenland. Even Chamberlain was convinced, the propaganda was so good. The Munich aggreement was signed and then Germany promptly took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. Never mind that different ethnic groups had lived size by side in Central and Eastern Europe for hundreds of years. The concept of Nationalism is a new thing. Prior to World War II ethnic Germans also lived in many other regions of Eastern Europe including the Soviet Union.

What you and Chamberlain share is you fell for the propaganda hook, line, and sinker. This is the reason why dictators regardless if you call them Fascist, Populist, or something else require control of the news organizations. This kind of propaganda is not possible in a liberal democracy because the government does not control the media. At the height of the cold war I had access to Communist and Maoist publications. With the Internet I can get the perspective of what the entire world thinks on a topic.

There are certainly Ukranians who are ultra nationalists. And I would agree there probably were activities done by some of those nationalists that were demeaning to ethnic Russians. However, the propaganda that Putin's media groups generated were a gross escalation and distorted the actual events. However, you can observe the effectivnes as you fell for it completely.

In history if a person is to make a claim in a book it must be footnoted with the reference. You are welcome to believe what you want. If you are interested in the thruth look who is making the claims and look for the proof. Regarding conspiracy theories Obama has been one of the least engaged presidents since the roaring 20ties. The concept that Obama had secret designs on Ukraine is about as funny as George Bush senior goaded Saddam Husein into invading Kuwait so he could invade Iraq. Obama was completely into disengagement in Europe. I suppose the Asia pivot has already been forgotten. But Putin's propaganda specialists got you there also. They have believing NATO is secretly trying to surround and destroy Russia. Never mind that Europe and the United States have been drawing down their armed forces while Putin has been massively increased defense spending.

In summary I strongly recommend you read the novel 1984. The control of information is how dictarships control people. I would say this. Who are you most likely going to believe? I will take my chances with the pluralistic decentralized liberal democracy over a dictatorship every time.