The Soviets Decisively Ended The War By Capturing Berlin In May 1945

Despite Great Wealth In The U.S., There Also Exists Great Poverty And Inequality.

The United Nations monitor on extreme poverty and human rights has embarked on a coast-to-coast tour of the U.S. to hold the world’s richest nation, and its president, to account for the hardships endured by America’s most vulnerable citizens.
The tour will make stops in four states as well as Washington DC and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

It will focus on several of the social and economic barriers that render the American dream merely a pipe dream to millions, from homelessness in California to racial discrimination in the Deep South, cumulative neglect in Puerto Rico and the decline of industrial jobs in West Virginia.

With 41 million Americans officially in poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau (other estimates put that figure much higher), one aim of the UN mission will be to demonstrate that no country, however wealthy, is immune from human suffering induced by growing inequality.
Nor is any nation, however powerful, beyond the reach of human rights law, a message that the U.S. government and Donald Trump might find hard to stomach given their tendency to regard internal affairs as sacrosanct.

The UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, is a feisty Australian and New York University law professor who has a fearsome track record of holding power to account.
The U.S. is no stranger to Alston, having come under heavy criticism from him for its program of drone strikes on terrorist targets abroad.

In his previous role as UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Alston blamed the Obama administration and the CIA for killing many innocent civilians in attacks he said were of dubious international legality.
Alston said “Despite great wealth in the U.S., there also exists great poverty and inequality.”
( Ed Pilkington, 01.12.2017 )  ..  theguardian.com

The Soviets Decisively Ended The War By Capturing Berlin In May 1945.

Around 80% of the more than five million German military deaths in World War Two occurred on the Eastern Front.
This terrible conflict with the Red Army consumed great quantities of men and material until the Soviets decisively ended the war by capturing Berlin in May 1945.

During that time, the Red Army underwent a radical transformation, having been decimated by Joseph Stalin’s purges before Hitler’s armies invaded on June 22, 1941, inflicting horrendous losses.

But as the war progressed, the two sides effectively traded places, with the Red Army honing a mechanised “deep battle” doctrine that more closely resembled earlier German tactics ,  just as the German army fell into disarray as war-time casualties took their toll.

All the while, the Western Allies provided enormous quantities of supplies and other aid under the Lend-Lease policy.
The United States and the United Kingdom supplied more than 21 million tons of aid to the Soviet Union during the war, including thousands of tanks and warplanes.

But the question of how much this aid affected the outcome of the war would become important not only for historians, but as a matter of national pride, as the Soviet Union went on to diminish Lend-Lease’s role in helping turn the tide of battle.
Western historians would, perhaps for similar reasons, overstate the role of the aid in Soviet success.

The reality was a bit more complicated , and perhaps inconclusive.
Most likely, the Soviets would have won regardless, as the Eastern Front for the Germans was unwinnable after the Battle of Stalingrad, before most of the aid to the USSR arrived.
But Lend-Lease also certainly helped shorten the war and saved lives.
( Robert Beckhusen, 27.03.2017 )  ..  warisboring.com

Seven Palestinian Children Murdered By Israeli Forces And A 13 Year-Old boy Used As A Human Shield (April 2004).

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Defence for Children International, Palestine section and Al-Haq, of the unlawful killing of seven children, the youngest of which was 4 years-old, and the beating and use of a 13 year-old boy as a human shield.

According to the information received, in the week 18-24 April 2004, Israeli forces illegally entered the northern Gaza Strip so as to repress demonstration against the building of the Annexation Wall.

During the course of the three-day violent Israeli incursion, seven Palestinian children have been killed and a further 40 injured.
Israeli armoured vehicles and tanks, supported by helicopter gunships raided the northern districts of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun.

The illegal Israeli Occupation Forces deployed heavy artillery and snipers against the Palestinian demonstrators who threw stones at the bulldozers in an attempt to prevent the destruction of Palestinian agricultural land.
Seven children died during and shortly after these demonstrations.

Yousef Taleb al-Do’ar (14 years-old), Mohammed Abed al-Motaleb al-Ajouri (16 years-old), Mohammed Rassim al-Malfouh (15 years-old), Khaldun Ziad Abu Jarad (16 years-old), Radwan Mohammed Hamtou (15 years-old) were killed in the attacks.

Two girls, four year-old Asma Ali Abu Qlaiq and nine year-old Mona Hamada Abu Tabaq were also killed during the Israeli incursions.
Asma suffered respiratory failure after Israeli forces fired tear close canisters near the family’s house.
Mona was also in a residential area when she was killed by Israeli gunfire.

According to the same sources, on 22nd April 2004, a 13 year-old boy called Mohammed Said Essa Badwan/Badran was used as a human shield.
Mohammed was peacefully taking part in spontaneous demonstration in Biddo against the building of the Annexation Wall.
Around noon, following the launch of sound bombs and teargas canisters by the soldiers, some nearby youths started throwing stones.

At this point, two Israeli Border Guards arrested Mohammed, beat him and forced him to sit on the hood of their jeep, tying his arm to the windshield screen and then using him as a human shield.
Attempts by Mohammed’s father and others to obtain the child’s release only resulted in further threats by the soldiers who dispersed them at gun point.

Moreover, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, who heads the organisation Rabbis for Human Rights, was present and tried to intervene for the release of the child but was instead arrested and beaten.
Mohammed was reported to have been repeatedly hit by the soldiers while he was tied to the vehicle. Although he begged them to release him because he was scared and in pain, they would not.
He also reportedly suffered from exposure to the teargas used by the soldiers, since he could not move nor was he given any protection.

After about four hours, Mohammed was untied, forced into the jeep and taken first to Al-Sahl, an area in which the Annexation Wall is being constructed.
He was then questioned by a military officer.

Finally the child was released in the neighbouring village of Al-Kalaileh where he had to wait, alone and in the dark, for a relative to come and pick him up.
Mohammed only returned to his home at around 9 pm.
His parents report that the boy could not stop shivering from fear and that he had bruises on one hand and on his back.
( OMCT, 29.04.2004 )  ..  omct.org

Israeli Soldiers Use A 9 Year-Old Palestinian Boy As A Human Shield (January 2009).

An Israeli military court convicted two Israeli soldiers for using a Palestinian child as a human shield during an offensive in Gaza on January 15, 2009.
The soldiers were found guilty of reckless endangerment and conduct unbecoming for forcing the nine-year-old boy to check suspected booby-traps.

The two soldiers were sentenced on November 21, 2010.
The court ruling demoted the two staff sergeants to the rank of sergeant and gave them suspended three-month sentences.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said: “The slap on the wrist for these soldiers is another slap in the face for the victims of violations during Operation Cast Lead. Not only do these sentences seem unjustifiably lenient, but two years later, they are the only sentences Israel has handed down for serious human rights violations among the many alleged during the Gaza offensive.”
( Human Rights Watch, 26.11.2010)  ..  hrw.org

The U.S. Dropped 864,000 Tons Of Bombs On North Vietnam And Lost 922 Aircraft.

Rolling Thunder was the name given to the American bombing operation against North Vietnam, which lasted from March 2, 1965, until November 1, 1968.
It was intended to put psychological and material pressure on the North Vietnamese communist regime and persuade its leaders to come to the negotiating table.

The campaign, including carpet bombing by huge B-52s, escalated over the three years as the U.S. became increasingly frustrated with its failure either to subdue North Vietnamese forces or demoralise the population.
North Vietnam acquired surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery, and had about 100 Soviet-built MiG fighters.

The Americans lost 922 aircraft during a campaign in which 864,000 tons of bombs dropped on North Vietnam, more than during the whole of the Pacific War.
The combination of poor weather, North Vietnamese adaptability in the face of attack and uncertainty over the pattern of targeting demonstrated the difficulty of asymmetric warfare for technically sophisticated states.
( Wilfred Soon, October 2017 )