Text 10374, 62 rader
Skriven 2013-09-23 14:37:25 av alexander koryagin (2:5020/2140.2)
  Kommentar till text 10290 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
Ärende: Re: Putin Blinks
========================
Hi, Roy Witt!
I read your message from 20.09.2013 15:45
about Putin Blinks.

  LL>>> What was the real reason as to why US President Harry S Truman
  LL>>> chose to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Remember,
  LL>>> the Japanese high command had already offered to surrender, a
  LL>>> full month before. The Japanese military had already been
  LL>>> defeated, having no more navy, air force, or army to speak of.
  LL>>> Most major Japanese cities, including Tokyo, had already been
  LL>>> destroyed and reduced to rubble.

  ak>> I believe that this war crime (a mass and indiscriminate killing
  ak>> of civilians is a very severe war crime) was a demonstration of
  ak>> force to the USSR. In June 1945, at Potsdam Conference, Truman
  ak>> boasted of the Abomb before Stalin, but he appeared unimpressed.

  RW> Actually if you read the real history books about it, Truman did
  RW> not boast of the Abomb, but did talk about a very powerful weapon
  RW> that had never been seen in this world before. Stalin, whether he
  RW> actually knew about the July 1945 test of the Abomb or not before
  RW> the Potsdam meeting, encouraged Truman to use it to help end the
  RW> war ASAP.

    we can read all versions here:
http://www.dannen.com/decision/potsdam.html

    So, Stalin had no idea of Truman's intention and the bomb power. 
Truman could say "We've made a diabolical bomb, and we are going to burn 
alive 200 thousand people from two big Japanese cities. Isn't it great 
news?" Then, probably we could see the real reaction of Stalin. But we 
know Truman's reaction only -- he liked the results of the first bomb so 
much that he decided to drop the second one.

  LL>>> Russians were wimps, choosing to fight Japan in China. The US
  LL>>> defeated Japan in Japan, atomizing two heavily populated cities
  LL>>> in the process. No other country in the world can lay claim to
  LL>>> doing that.

  ak>> At Yalta conference, in 1945 (Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill), the
  ak>> USSR had taken an obligation to declare war on Japan, to help the
  ak>> US to defeat Japan. That was an agreement, that was a part of
  ak>> allies military actions. So, it must not be any wonder why the
  ak>> USSR declared war on Japan in 1945.

  RW> The Soviet Union's last-minute declaration of war on Japan on
  RW> August 8 became more a political headache than a military benefit
  RW> for the U. S. The Soviets saw intervention as an inexpensive way to
  RW> reap the spoils of war in Japan's final hours. Not to mention
  RW> revenge for the Japanese annextion of Mancuria to the empire in
  RW> 1910 and wanted it back. Stalin couldn't give a shit less about
  RW> helping anyone else.

    Well, the US could easily refuse from the USSR's help and don't 
discuss it. As one Russian literature character said, "Agreement is the 
product of the sides' non-resistance." ;=)

Bye, Roy!
Alexander Koryagin
fido7.fidonews 2013
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