Today, I re-read William Shirer's classic Rise and Fall of the Third Reich [View All]

[CoffeeAnnan]

I read it over because in this last edition, Shirer raises the question whether Germany is likely to resort to the same barbarism it fell prey to in the twentieth century.He comes to the conclusion that it will not do so simply because the consequences for the German people will be even more horrendous than they were before the advent of nuclear weapons.

It is a measure of how far we have come from the heady days of Nuremberg that the appropriate question for us would be whether the United States, as it has done so in Iraq and other assorted places since WWII, is likely to go down the road taken by the Nazi barbarians.I hope we have enough wisdom to pull back from that road so the twenty first century does not overtake the twentieth in its bloodshed of innocents.

I raise this question because yesterday, DU had a post on a new proposal by Vladimir Putin to bring Russia, China,India and Brazil in what is currently being billed as an economic alliance.I see in it the nucleus of a formidable alliance that would dwarf the US in the next few decades.It could very well develop into a military alliance.Given the fact these countries comprise more than fifty percent of the world's population and command a vast array of resources and brainpower, it would be wise of us to pull back from the militaristic road we have embarked on.Otherwise, given the anger aroused by Bush and his minions the world over, we are likely to meet a fate similar to the Germans in their headlong march to folly.