User: sakis

Thank you for your suggestion. Many would argue than Truman was just finishing the war that Hitler and the Japanese started, therefore responsibility falls on them. Granted, some of the actions of the allies (like the carpet bombing of japanese and german cities) could easily be considered war crimes. The atom bombs however, according to most sources, instantly killed 220.000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, not one million people. For all the above i did not consider Truman to be even in the same league as the others.

There are numerous accounts of Hitler speaking in regard to the Armenians, with at least two similar versions of the 1939 speech coming from the German High Command archives. The most notable quote attributed to Hitler on the Armenians is excerpted from an August 1939 military conference, before the invasion of Poland:

“ I have issued the command—and I’ll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad — that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formation in readiness — for the present only in the East — with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space [Lebensraum] which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians? "

source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_genocide#Recognition_of_the_Armenian_Genocide

No, i am not suggesting anything, it was a question. No, i wouldn't choose China to live today but that does not change the fact that China today is a much better place than 30 years ago. But not yet democratic or ready for democracy. Opening up China politicaly will take time, at least until they develop a middle class that will provide stability. Functioning Democracies require certain preconditions and the chinese leaders seem to realise that. Regarding the Bush administration i believe that, after almost branding China as a threat to the US back in 2001, they realised that a cold war between China and the US would only be to the detriment of both. I explain what is happening in Tibet as chinese repression.Thank you for your opinions

China is moving forward. Lifting 300 million people out of poverty in just 30 years is one of the greatest achievements ever. Besides, would you consider Russia's transition from Socialism more succesfull? Russia tried political liberalization first with disasterous results. The Chinese way is more pragmatic.

Calls for political liberalization in China are premature and counterproductive. Life moves forward with small steps of progress. That is what China should do too.