Merkel Challenges the Pope on Holocaust Denial

Well the German State as currently constituted only dates to 1871 so they have the advantage of not needing to recognise a number of centuries of homogenous activity. They can blame it on the Prussians or the Bavarians, which are naturally defunct entities. Nor do I think you will find Britain is actively promoting any success in the Irish famine... that kind of distinguishes the situation from your hypothetical situation of Germany promoting a success from the history of WW2.

cactus flower wrote:

Aragon, I don't for one moment think that Merkel can solve the problems of racism, whether anti-semiticism or against the Palestinians. However Merkel is hardly unique amongst heads of state to have kow towed to the Israeli government. Virtually every one of them joined in a cosy dinner with Tzipi Livni less than a week after the cease fire.

Sure, I understood what you were saying - she's unique among EU leaders in the extreme that she goes to in her eodorsement of Israel though.

There are double standards in operation - we are castigating the Pope for rehabilitating a holocaust denier. Shouldn't there be comparable outrage at, say, Obama having appointed so many Zionists to his cabinet by the same token? If we are going to scrutinise the offensiveness of the Williamson's holocaust denial, which of course we should, shouldnt we also be looking at the offensiveness of certain Zionist beliefs and the murder it is resulting in right now?

johnfás wrote:

Well the German State as currently constituted only dates to 1871 so they have the advantage of not needing to recognise a number of centuries of homogenous activity. They can blame it on the Prussians or the Bavarians, which are naturally defunct entities. Nor do I think you will find Britain is actively promoting any success in the Irish famine... that kind of distinguishes the situation from your hypothetical situation of Germany promoting a success from the history of WW2.

Of course they wont promote the success of the famine! However they might be taught to feel proud about conquering 1/4 of the globe which then resulted in a lot of misery for an awful lot of people around the world, not least in Ireland.
In itself the german conquest of Europe can be put on the same level, as a great military achievement. Thats very shortsighted and thats what I'm arguing against.
No one likes to talk about the uglier sides of wars and conquests - the genoicides, the famines, the bloody murder, just the noble fight against the "bad guys" or ignorant savages - take your pick. Its all propaganda.

Aragon wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Aragon, I don't for one moment think that Merkel can solve the problems of racism, whether anti-semiticism or against the Palestinians. However Merkel is hardly unique amongst heads of state to have kow towed to the Israeli government. Virtually every one of them joined in a cosy dinner with Tzipi Livni less than a week after the cease fire.

Sure, I understood what you were saying - she's unique among EU leaders in the extreme that she goes to in her eodorsement of Israel though.

There are double standards in operation - we are castigating the Pope for rehabilitating a holocaust denier. Shouldn't there be comparable outrage at, say, Obama having appointed so many Zionists to his cabinet by the same token? If we are going to scrutinise the offensiveness of the Williamson's holocaust denial, which of course we should, shouldnt we also be looking at the offensiveness of certain Zionist beliefs and the murder it is resulting in right now?

No there aren't double standards. I did castigate Obama for that, severely, right here on the Obama administration thread. And every one here that I'm aware of castigated the heck out of the assault on Gaza.

I see the Vatican are telling him to retract his statement - it was mentioned on Drivetime.