German Indology

[dlusthau at mailer.fsu.edu]

>>Is that the thanks we get for saving everybody's hide in WW II (if not for
>>us, Lance might be speaking German himself today), and for keeping the
>>world relatively tidy while defunct Imperialist expansionism implodes back
>>in on itself?
> <snip>
>>Dan Lusthaus
>
>Is this a serious historical statement? At the very least it is debatable.
>Ever heard of Russia?
>Max Nihom
>University of Vienna

The tenor of my posting was jest, ribbing Lance Cousins for passing the
negative buck from "Anglosaxons" to everyone's favorite love-hate
nationality, Americans. But, since you want to take it seriously, I have to
laugh if you think that Europe would have been liberated singlehandedly by
Russia. Perhaps Vienna's complicated relation with the USSR after the war
into the mid-50s provides the impression there that the Russian role was
more prominent than observers in Western Europe, Africa, China, Southeast
Asia, India, the Middle East, etc., would be inclined to ascribe. Yes,
Russia played an important role on Germany's eastern front - and was the
scene of one of Hitler's costliest mistakes; and the other Allies played
important roles as well. "What ifs" are always debatable - by definition -
so we can endlessly debate how things might have turned out differently if
the US had stayed out of the war; Perhaps we can at least agree that the
likelihood of a German victory would have increased had the US abstained.

>As for "defunct Imperialist expansionism", perhaps one might ask the
>chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs committee what he thinks of this.

Don't confuse provincial narcissism for Colonial Imperialism.

Instead, ask the conservative French government that is currently passing
legislation to control the influx of ex-colonial subjects; or ask the
average Brit on the street what s/he thinks of all the ex-colonial subjects
nesting in GB. The implosion will have long term effects, well into the
next century...

Dan Lusthaus
Florida State University