The Red Army Was The Main Engine Of Nazism’s Destruction

The Soviet Union Paid the Harshest Price.
In the Western popular imagination, particularly the American one, World War II is a conflict we won.
It was fought on the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima, through the rubble of recaptured French towns and capped by sepia-toned scenes of joy and young love in New York.

It was a victory shaped by the steeliness of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the moral fibre of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and the awesome power of an atomic bomb.
But that narrative shifts dramatically when you go to Russia, where World War II is called the Great Patriotic War and is remembered in a vastly different light.
Starting in 1941, the Soviet Union bore the brunt of the Nazi war machine and played perhaps the most important role in the Allies’ defeat of Hitler.

By one calculation, for every single American soldier killed fighting the Germans, 80 Soviet soldiers died doing the same.
The Soviet Union paid the harshest price: though the numbers are not exact, an estimated 26 million Soviet citizens died during World War II, including as many as 11 million soldiers.
At the same time, the Germans suffered three-quarters of their wartime losses fighting the Red Army.
( Ishaan Tharoor, 09.05.2016 )

The Red Army was the main engine of Nazism’s destruction.
It was the Western Allies’ extreme good fortune that the Russians, and not themselves, paid almost the entire ‘butcher’s bill’ for defeating Nazi Germany, accepting 95% of the military casualties of the three major powers of the Grand Alliance.
( Max Hastings )

Israel Lobby, Backed By The Israeli Embassy, Infiltrates UK Universities.
Israel is influencing student, activist and parliamentary groups in the UK, offering financial and strategic assistance in order to gather support among young organisers and shape British politics, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit reveals.
For six months, undercover reporter Robin (an alias) infiltrated pro-Israeli groups working to counter the powerful and growing movement against the illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

He uncovered a close link between Shai Masot, whose business card described him as a senior political officer at the Israeli embassy in London, and a network of politicians, activists and analysts in Britain who are sympathetic to Israel.
The aggressive lobbying comes as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement swells, and as the opposition Labour Party is led by Jeremy Corbyn, a vocal supporter of Palestinian interests.

BDS enjoys wide support at British universities.
In June 2015 the National Union of Students (NUS) voted for the boycott.
A year later the NUS elected its first black, Muslim, female president: Malia Bouattia, a pro-Palestinian human rights supporter.
Unlike the NUS, the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) comprising 64 Jewish societies at British universities, strongly opposes the BDS movement.

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit discovered that the UJS not only received money from the Israeli embassy, but also attempted to influence the NUS presidency election, and even oust Bouattia following her victory.
( Al Jazeera, 11.01.2017 )  ..  aljazeera.com

Cameron’s Attack On Libya Led To The Rise Of Islamic State In North Africa, Thousands Of Unnecessary Deaths, And Tens Of Thousands Of Refugees Seeking Asylum In Europe.
A UK parliamentary report has severely criticised the intervention by Britain and France that led to the overthrow, and the murder, of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The foreign affairs committee accused the then PM David Cameron of lacking a coherent strategy for the air campaign.

It said the intervention had not been “informed by accurate intelligence”, and that it led to the rise of so-called Islamic State in North Africa.
After Gaddafi was murdered, Libya descended into violence, with rival governments and the formation of hundreds of militias, while so-called Islamic State, also known as Isil and Daesh, has gained a foothold.

Former prime minister David Cameron was judged to be ultimately responsible for the failure to develop a coherent Libya strategy.
The destruction of a vibrant Libya with a healthy economy and the unnecessary deaths of thousands are on Cameron’s despicable, bloodied hands.
( BBC News, 14.09.2016 )  ..  bbc.co.uk

Sex Crime Scandals Involving The Highest Echelons Of Israeli Society.
Lawmakers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition are trying to deflect attention from sex crime scandals involving the highest echelons of Israeli society by making false allegations against Palestinians and other non-Jews.
In recent months, a long list of senior Israeli officials, including members of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s inner circle, have been investigated and, in some cases, convicted for sex crimes against women and girls.
But rather than acknowledging the problem in their own ranks, right-wing members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, are renewing their efforts to paint Palestinians as the prime perpetrators.
( David Sheen, 31.01.2017 )  ..  electronicintifada.net

The Sadistic Torture And Murder Of 87 Slaves In New Orleans.
Madame Delphine LaLaurie was the last person anyone in 19th century New Orleans expected to be involved in torture and murder.
But that changed in 1834, when a fire raged through her extravagant Spanish-style mansion on the corner of a city-centre street.
In the kitchen, surprised firefighters found black slaves chained to the stove.
The captives, who had started the fire deliberately, directed them to the bolted attic from which came blood-curdling screams.

What they discovered made the seasoned rescuers vomit and faint.
Human body parts littered the blood-stained floor and chained to the walls were slaves, most of whom appeared to have been grotesquely maimed and disfigured for fun.
Many were dead but some still clung on to life.
A police report later described their battered faces as more like ‘gargoyles than humans’.
One man looked as if he had been the victim of a crude sex change operation.
A woman had her arms amputated and skin peeled off in a circular pattern, making her look like a human caterpillar.

And another woman’s limb joints had all been broken then reset at odd angles so that she resembled a human crab.
Madame Delphine LaLaurie was charged with 12 murders, but eluded the police and, it is suspected, fled to Paris.
A century later, 75 skeletons were found under the floorboards taking her murder count to 87.
( Wilfred Soon )

A Fund-Raising Dinner In Los Angeles For The Israeli Army.
A fundraising dinner organised by Friends of the Israel Defence Forces (FIDF) in Los Angeles has raised $38million
.The gala event is held every year and is attended by prominent celebrities, artists and businessmen.
A number of American celebrities attended the 2016 dinner, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert De Niro, television host Larry King, Gerard Butler, Jewish businessman and media mogul Haim Saban, and many others.
Soldiers with American backgrounds serving in the Israeli army also attended.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the founder and head of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, made the single largest contribution of the night of $6million.
( MEM, 05.11.2016 )  ..  middleeastmonitor.com

Plastic Fantastic.
During the Second World War, many of Britain’s toy factories were requisitioned for munitions work, and although toy making ceased, this war work indirectly led to a new product which would revolutionise the industry – plastic.
Although plastic was known before the war, various techniques were developed and refined in the factories, where it was used for numerous things including aircraft fittings.
When toy making recommenced, plastic was the obvious choice of material to develop, especially for dolls.
Plastic was light, robust, cheap and easy to mould, and it quickly replaced the traditional composition (plaster mix) or porcelain that was the norm before the war.
( Susan Brewer, November 2015 )