“But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. ….”
Does anybody find that praise for the Germans ironic?
Why did the Germans keep the flame of hope burning?
Because they knew what the Soviets represented, and they trusted, based on our words and actions, that we would stand by them. Even though in some measure, the Germans could be thought of to have earned their time in hell, given what they did to Russia during the war (this in no wise excuses the Soviet's excesses paid in return during their march of conquest to the west).
And we did, as Maryann so capably notes -
Stand by them.
The irony? This tidbit coming from a politician who would have abandoned the Iraqis to whatever Al Qaeda and the B'aathist thuggery had in mind for them... after *we* set the conditions that would have allowed that to happen.
Heh. Senator Obama in Berlin... "Ich bin ein Beginner!"
Heh. Senator Obama in Berlin... "Ich bin ein Beginner!"
Senator Obama I love his speeches