Headline: Trump just deported a Nazi. That’s a move I can get behind.
Headline: Trump just deported a Nazi. That’s a move I can get behind.
Oh, COME ON Wapo and Von Drehle. Trump is just using this as a 'look at what happens when you let in illegal immigrants' showboat. Personally, he could care less. Even if he wasn't trying to leverage this, a broken clock is right twice a day, and that's the max level of credit he deserves.
Not to mention this is specifically about war crimes and war criminals, which is in no way comparable to anything else. So it is just insulting that Trump and company would use this or get any credit for the work of so many people for so many years.
The one thing this article gets right is that the work of the people in the Justice Department to find and deport war criminals sends a message, and that message is even more important in the face of resurgent nationalism, racism, and anti-semitism all over the world.
However, another thing it gets very wrong is the implication that somehow the Germans were more responsible than "many Ukrainians". That's a nice fiction. I don't doubt that there were people threatened with death if they didn't work with the Nazis. I don't doubt that there were many people in Poland and Ukraine (evidence suggests probably more in Poland) who chose to die (if they got a choice) rather than work with the Nazis.
Unfortunately, there were also a whole lotta people who were not just willing, but happy to go after others, especially jews, and they did not need the Nazis to turn them into those people. There were places where the Nazis didn't have to do anything, the locals were there before them. The Nazis just didn't stop them.
Poland is conflicted and currently leaning toward trying to whitewash what happened, as if it is all Germany and the Nazis' fault, regardless of contrary evidence. Poland (non-jewish) was also deliberately and systematically abused by the Nazis like no other country they invaded. As far as I know, no one has ever held Ukraine to account, and they have a terrible record for what happened in WWII, especially to the jews. Not to mention prior history of violence toward jews throughout Eastern Europe and Ukraine.
So spare us the almost apologism for Ukraine not taking him and prosecuting him while criticizing Germany, who requires that the Holocaust be taught in school (as did Poland until whatever has gone on recently with the laws). Ukraine feels no responsibility; Germany feels responsibility to the point that they took in 1 million Syrian (et al) refugees.
Trump doesn't feel anything at all.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-just-deported-a-nazi-thats-a-move-i-can-get-behind/2018/08/21/ec1d2d1c-a56d-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a5b1ba14754b
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-just-deported-a-nazi-thats-a-move-i-can-get-behind/2018/08/21/ec1d2d1c-a56d-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a5b1ba14754b
Oh, COME ON Wapo and Von Drehle. Trump is just using this as a 'look at what happens when you let in illegal immigrants' showboat. Personally, he could care less. Even if he wasn't trying to leverage this, a broken clock is right twice a day, and that's the max level of credit he deserves.
Not to mention this is specifically about war crimes and war criminals, which is in no way comparable to anything else. So it is just insulting that Trump and company would use this or get any credit for the work of so many people for so many years.
The one thing this article gets right is that the work of the people in the Justice Department to find and deport war criminals sends a message, and that message is even more important in the face of resurgent nationalism, racism, and anti-semitism all over the world.
However, another thing it gets very wrong is the implication that somehow the Germans were more responsible than "many Ukrainians". That's a nice fiction. I don't doubt that there were people threatened with death if they didn't work with the Nazis. I don't doubt that there were many people in Poland and Ukraine (evidence suggests probably more in Poland) who chose to die (if they got a choice) rather than work with the Nazis.
Unfortunately, there were also a whole lotta people who were not just willing, but happy to go after others, especially jews, and they did not need the Nazis to turn them into those people. There were places where the Nazis didn't have to do anything, the locals were there before them. The Nazis just didn't stop them.
Poland is conflicted and currently leaning toward trying to whitewash what happened, as if it is all Germany and the Nazis' fault, regardless of contrary evidence. Poland (non-jewish) was also deliberately and systematically abused by the Nazis like no other country they invaded. As far as I know, no one has ever held Ukraine to account, and they have a terrible record for what happened in WWII, especially to the jews. Not to mention prior history of violence toward jews throughout Eastern Europe and Ukraine.
So spare us the almost apologism for Ukraine not taking him and prosecuting him while criticizing Germany, who requires that the Holocaust be taught in school (as did Poland until whatever has gone on recently with the laws). Ukraine feels no responsibility; Germany feels responsibility to the point that they took in 1 million Syrian (et al) refugees.
Trump doesn't feel anything at all.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-just-deported-a-nazi-thats-a-move-i-can-get-behind/2018/08/21/ec1d2d1c-a56d-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a5b1ba14754b
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-just-deported-a-nazi-thats-a-move-i-can-get-behind/2018/08/21/ec1d2d1c-a56d-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a5b1ba14754b
You know what? I don't care why trump supported it, I'm just glad that he was deported. I'm also glad that he got deported in a way that was undignified to him - being taken out of a stretcher, no matter whether he wanted to leave or not.
ReplyDeleteAn evil clock can be right 2 x/day.
A big part of Poland's and Ukraine's historically poor track record regarding Jews is that it had been worse just about everywhere else.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don’t quite understand is why he wasn’t in prison while awaiting deportation, for the past d3cade and a half.
ReplyDeleteHouse arrest. It means the taxpayers aren't paying for his housing and medical care and that is fine by me.
ReplyDelete