Re: haha Arthur….

Vortex,

Bit touchy again aye 😉 ?

Vortex, the Dutch surrendered to the Germans after five pitiful days of resistance on May 15th, 1940. The first proclamation of the German kommandatur (local proclamations had already been made in other areas which were occupied even sooner) was in order to maintain order, stability and civil services.

The prosecution of the Jews didn’t start for another year, which makes it perfectly besides the point. Unless you know something about US plans in Iraq we don’t }> ? (I really really want that devil back!).

Sauron,

The Soviet behaviour of stealing German artefacts is not acceptable, but it was not an issue back then because UNESCO was not yet in function. But i understand you don’t see a problem in the US moving to the same standards as the stalinist Soviet Union lived to? I’m impressed…

Let me remind you again: a country’s standards are as high as a country claims them to be. If the US governments states it represents freedom, democracy and free trade, it better make sure it doesn’t lie too much. When North Korea is presenting itself as the pinnacle of freedom and decency, i’m sure i won’t be leaving them alone either.

As a sidenote, perhaps you can tell me the difference between the Soviet theft of German art (and art stolen by the Germans during the war as well) and Operation Paperclip, in which the US gave German research a new owner?

Sukhoi????

Not those pesky little aerobatic thingies, i hope?

Originally posted by Jonesy
Arthur is the other one who really looks like his persona (which is intended as a compliment I assure you Art!)

Uh-oh…

Originally posted by Sauron
Arthur

Is that the same Geneva convention that applies to the middle east treasure plundered by guys like Schliemann and others and then stolen by the Russians during WWII which has never been returned?

As for the duty of an occupant to immediately restore order: yep, that Geneva Convention. The US still knew how to do it in World War 2 (so did the Germans by the way), but i guess that ancient wisdom has been put in the Smithsonian rather than applying it in Iraq. However, this does not apply to the Soviet Union as it did not officially acknowledge the Geneva Convention until after WW2. It’s interesting to see you make this comparison though 😀

However, the protection of cultural treasures and heritage is assured by UNESCO, which is a UN organisation – one of the more effective ones actually. Pre-UN misbehaviour in this respect is not an issue.

The US broke the Geneva Convention by not securing the hospitals and historical treasures (most certainly those protected by UNESCO, like those in the Baghdad museum), and taking care of law, order and continuing civil services like trash disposal.

Haven’t heard much about that in the American media either, so Sauron certainly has a point.

Sauron,

Does the phrase ‘Anti-trust case, United States vs. Microsoft’ ring a bell? This was actually one of the cases in which the US tried to support free trade for once.

Re: Bagdad Museum Looted?

Originally posted by Sauron
I wonder how many other stories we saw reported were exagerated or poorly reported?

Somehow i don’t think you are referring here to all the “WMD-discoveries” which were proudly announced so far, but none of which were actually true 😉

I don’t care about how good or bad the guy has done, or that he didn’t need other people’s money to get started (in stead, he took other people’s ideas }> ).

I only care about the product he delivers. With XP, i am finally reasonably satisfied. Before that, Bill made a lot of money on unreliable junk.