Quantcast
Channel: SAMURAI POLICE 1109
Viewing all 1603 articles
Browse latest View live

THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING (APRIL 15 , 2013)


A MASS MURDERER REPENTS: THE CASE OF RUDOLF HOESS, COMMANDANT OF AUSCHWITZ

0
0
http://bob.yerhot.org/2012/05/gods-mercy-knows-no-bounds-the-case-of-rudolf-hoess/

DUCH VERSUS HOESS

THE KHMER ROUGE

TETSUYA SHIROO THE YAKUZA OF NAGASAKI

0
0


            On this date, April 17, 2007, Iccho Itoh, the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan was shot by a former Yakuza Leader, Tetsuya Shiroo. I will post information about the gangster from Wikipedia.

Tetsuya Shiroo (城尾哲彌Shiroo Tetsuya)
Tetsuya Shiroo(城尾哲彌Shiroo Tetsuya?, born 1948) is the former leader of the Suishin-kai, a Nagasaki-based yakuza group affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza organization in Japan.

On April 17, 2007, Shiroo shot Iccho Itoh, the mayor of Nagasaki, who died early the next morning.

Shiroo's apparent motive for the assassination was a grudge over an insurance claim. City officials had refused to compensate him for a Yamaguchi-gumi vehicle that was damaged at a public works construction site in 2003. It was reported in the Japanese press that prior to the shooting, Shiroo had mailed a letter to TV Asahi outlining his grudges against the mayor and the city government. In addition to the insurance claim, Shiroo was also reportedly angry that a construction company linked to his gang had been denied a contract by the city government. He later told police that he had been planning the assassination since February.

Japanese police stated that the killing was a result of this personal grudge, and was not authorized by the Yamaguchi-gumi leadership. After the mayor's death, Shiroo's gang, the Suishin-kai, announced that it would voluntarily disband.

Shiroo approached Itoh at 7:50 pm outside his campaign office near Nagasaki Station, shooting him twice in the back with an American-made revolver. Local police quickly subdued and arrested Shiroo, who reportedly later told police that he had planned to commit suicide after killing the mayor.

Shiroo was indicted by the Nagasaki District Public Prosecutor's office for murder, gun possession and obstruction of election campaigning.

Two of Shiroo's associates, Hiromi Ogawa and Masaki Yamashita, were arrested for helping Shiroo plan the killing, but charges were later dropped due to insufficient evidence. Shiroo denied that he had told anyone of his plans to assassinate Itoh.

His trial began on January 22, 2008. Prosecutors sought capital punishment for him and he was sentenced to death on May 26, 2008. However, the Fukuoka High Court revoked the death sentence and sentenced him to life imprisonment on September 29, 2009.

THE TOURIST FROM HELL: JOHN MARTIN SCRIPPS (9 DECEMBER 1959 TO 19 APRIL 1996)

0
0


            On this date, 19 April 1996, an English Serial killer, John Martin Scripps was executed by hanging at Changi Prison in Singapore for the murder of South African tourist, Gerard Lowe. He was the last Englishman to die by the gallows.


John Martin Scripps
            Please go to this previous blog post to learn more.

KILLER KILLED ANOTHER KILLER IN A PRISON HOMICIDE: CARL WILLIAMS (13 OCTOBER 1970 TO 19 APRIL 2010)

0
0


            On this date, 19 April 2010, a murderer, Carl Williams, from Melbourne, Australia was murdered in HM Prison Barwon by a lifer, Matthew Johnson.


Victim, Carl Williams


Murderer, Matthew Johnson

Please go to this previous blog post to learn more.

THE DOUBLE BROTHERHOOD BOSTON MARATHON BOMBERS: DZHOKHAR & TAMERLAN TSARNAEV (APRIL 19, 2013)

0
0


            On this date, April 19, 2013, one of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed. I will post information about the Two Tsarnaev Brothers from Wikipedia.

 

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Photograph: AP [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/19/tamerlan-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-boston-bombings-chechnya]

Dzhokhar Anzorovich "Jahar" Tsarnaev (born July 22, 1993) and Tamerlan Anzorovich Tsarnaev (Тамерла́н Анзо́рович Царна́ев) (October 21, 1986 – April 19, 2013) are two brothers suspected of perpetrating the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombings. The bombings killed three people and reportedly injured as many as 264 others.

Shortly after the Federal Bureau of Investigation declared them suspects in the bombings and released images of them, the Tsarnaev brothers allegedly killed an MIT police officer, carjacked an SUV, and engaged in a shootout with the police in the Boston suburb of Watertown, during which Tamerlan was killed and an MBTA police officer was critically injured (the latter by what may have been friendly fire). Dzhokhar was injured but escaped, and an unprecedented manhunt ensued, with thousands of police searching a 20-block area of Watertown. On the evening of April 19, the heavily wounded Dzhokhar was found unarmed hiding in a boat on a trailer in Watertown just outside the police perimeter, arrested, and taken to a hospital. It was later reported that he was persuaded to surrender when the FBI negotiators mentioned a public plea from his former wrestling coach.

While still confined to a hospital bed, Dzhokhar was charged on April 22 with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death and with malicious destruction of property resulting in death. He could face the death penalty if convicted. Dzhokhar allegedly later admitted during questioning that they next intended to detonate explosives in Times Square in New York City. Dzhokhar reportedly also admitted to authorities that he and his brother were radicalized, at least in part, by watching Anwar al-Awlaki lectures. ABC reported on April 23, 2013, that authorities linked Tamerlan to an unsolved triple homicide in nearby Waltham that took place around the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Born seven years apart in different republics of the former Soviet Union, the brothers are half Chechen and half Avar. They immigrated to the United States as refugees in 2002. Tamerlan was an aspiring boxer who authorities believe had recently become a follower of radical Islam. Dzhokhar was a student at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth who became a naturalized U.S. citizen on September 11, 2012, seven months before the bombings.


SHANNON M. JOHNSON EXECUTED IN DELAWARE ON APRIL 20, 2012

0
0


Shannon M. Johnson was executed by lethal injection in Delaware on this date, April 20, 2012 for the murder of Cameron Hamlin on 24 September 2006. He was put to death only after six years of the murder as he needed a suicide assist.


Shannon M. Johnson
Please go to this previous blog post to learn more.

THE FUHRER DIRECTIVES

0
0




The Führer Directives were instructions and strategic plans issued by Adolf Hitler himself. They covered a wide range of subjects from detailed direction of military units in World War II to the governance of occupied territories and their populations. Under the Nazi system, they were binding, to be followed to the letter and superseded any other law.

They should not be confused with the Führer Orders, issued late in the war, which were more precise and low-level and could be written or oral. They were as binding as the more general directives.

The Directives

Directive No
Date issued
Subject

1
August 31, 1939
Plan of Attack on Poland
2
September 3, 1939
Hostilities in the West

3
September 9, 1939
Transfer of Forces from Poland to the West

4
September 25, 1939
Finishing the War in Poland

5
September 30, 1939
Partition of Poland

6
October 9, 1939
Plans for Offensive in the West

7
October 18, 1939
Preparations for Attack in the West

8
November 20, 1939
Further Preparations for Attack in the West

9
November 29, 1939
Instructions for Warfare against the Economy of the Enemy

10
January 19-February 18, 1940
Concentration of Forces for "Undertaking Yellow"

10a
March, 1940
Case "Weser Exercise" against Denmark and Norway
11
May 14, 1940
The Offensive in the West

12
May 18, 1940
Prosecution of the Attack in the West

13
May 24, 1940
Next Object in the West

14
June 8, 1940
Continuation of the Offensive in France

15
June 14, 1940
Advance on the Loire

16
July 16, 1940
17
August 1, 1940
Battle of Britain
18
November 12, 1940
Seizure of Gibraltar
19
December 10, 1940
German occupation of Vichy France
20
December 13, 1940
German invasion of Greece
21
December 18, 1940
Invasion of the Soviet Union
22
January 11, 1941
German Support for Battles in the Mediterranean Area

23
February 6, 1941
Directions for Operations against the English War Economy

24
March 5, 1941
Co-operation with Japan

25
March 27, 1941
Plan of Attack on Yugoslavia
26
April 3, 1941
Co-operation with our Allies in the Balkans

27
April 4, 1941
Plan of Attack on Greece

28
April 25, 1941
Invasion of Crete
29
May 17, 1941
Proposed Military Government of Greece
30
May 23, 1941
Support of anti-British forces in Iraq
31
June 9, 1941
German Military Organisation in the Balkans

32
July 11, 1941
Plans following defeat of the Soviet Union
32 supplement
July 14, 1941
Use of Resources following defeat of the Soviet Union
33
July 19, 1941
Continuation of the War in the East
Two Panzer Groups were removed from Army Group Centre, depriving it of the armour needed to attack Moscow.
34
July 30, 1941
Strengthening Soviet resistance

34 supplement
August 12, 1941


35
September 6, 1941
Moscow Offensive
36



37



38



39
December 8, 1941
Abandoning the Offensive

40
March 23, 1942
Competence of Commanders in Coastal Areas
Command Organization of the Coasts Atlantic Wall;[3]text of Directive
41
April 5, 1942
Summer Campaign in the Soviet Union
42
May 29, 1942
Instructions for operations against unoccupied France and the Iberian Peninsula
43
July 11, 1942
Continuation of Operations from the Crimea

44
July 21, 1942
Operations in Northern Finland

45
July 23, 1942
Continuation of Operation Brunswick

46
August 18, 1942
Instructions for Intensified Action Against Banditry in the East

47



48



49



50
September 28, 1943
Concerning the preparations for the withdrawal of 20th Mountain Army to Northern Finland and Northern Norway

51
November 3, 1943
Preparations for a two-front war
52






ADOLF HITLER’S DIRECTIVES

0
0

INTERNET SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_directives

Adolf Hitler made many hundreds of directives, orders and decrees while leader of the Third Reich in Germany, many of them related to military policy, and the treatment of civilians in occupied countries. Many of them are direct evidence of the commission of war crimes such as the notorious Commando order. Other orders provide evidence of crimes against humanity, such as the Hitler order establishing forced euthanasia of disabled people in 1939 under Action T4, and the Nacht und Nebel order for eliminating civilian resisters in occupied countries.


Directive of 21 October 1938

On 21 October 1938, Hitler issued a new directive to the Wehrmacht to prepare for the "following eventualities":
  • Securing the borders of the Reich and protection against surprise air attacks
  • Liquidation of the remainder of the Czech state. It must be possible to smash at any time the remainder of the Czech state should it pursue an anti-German policy.
  • The occupation of Memelland.

Hitler's order for the „Aktion T4“, which led to 70.000 people being killed.
Action T4

In 1939 Hitler issued an order which became the justification for killing disabled children and people in Action T4. It laid the basis for the Holocaust since gassing was a favoured method of murdering the many victims. The SS staff who operated the gas chambers were later employed at Auschwitz and many other concentration camps and death camps.

Fall Weiss directive

On 3 April 1939, the directive for Fall Weiss (Case White) was ready. It was issued on 11 April.

The first section, written by Hitler, began:


German relations with Poland continue to be based on the principles of avoiding any disturbances. Should Poland, however, change her policy towards Germany, a final settlement might become necessary in spite of the Treaty in force with Poland. The aim then will be to destroy Polish military strength, and create in the East a situation which satisfies the requirements of National Defence. The free state of Danzig will be proclaimed a part of Reich territory by the outbreak of hostilities at the latest. The political leaders consider it their task in this case to isolate Poland if possible, that is to say , to limit the war to Poland only.


The Wehrmacht had to be ready to carry out Fall Weiss at any time after 1 September 1939.


English:Adolf Hitler delivers a speech at the Kroll Opera House to the men of the Reichstag on the subject of Roosevelt and the war in the Pacific, declaring war on the United States. Next to Hitler in the government benches (from right to left) are Joachim von Ribbentrop, Erich Raeder, Walther von Brauchitsch, Wilhelm Keitel, Wilhelm Frick and Joseph Goebbels. In the second row (from right to left) are Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Walther Funk, Richard Walther Darré, Bernhard Rust, Hanns Kerrl, Hans Frank, Julius Dorpmüller, Arthur Seyss-Inquart and Fritz Todt. In the third row (from right to left) are Alfred Rosenberg, Otto Meißner and Johannes Popitz. (11 December 1941)
"Commissar" directive

Main article: Commissar Order

This notorious directive, dated 6 June 1941, followed directly on the Barbarossa decree. It was called Instructions on the Treatment of Political Commissarsand began:


In the struggle against Bolshevism, we must not assume that the enemy's conduct will be based on principles of humanity or of international law. In particular, hate-inspired, cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners can be expected on the part of all grades of political commissars, who are the real leaders of resistance...To show consideration to these elements during this struggle, or to act in accordance with international rules of war, is wrong and endangers both our own security and the rapid pacification of conquered territory...Political commissars have initiated barbaric, Asiatic methods of warfare. Consequently, they will be dealt with immediately and with maximum severity. As a matter of principle, they will be shot at once, whether captured during operations or otherwise showing resistance.


Commando Order

Main article: Commando Order

The Commando Order was issued by Adolf Hitler on 18 October 1942 stating that all Allied commandos encountered by German forces in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately without trial, even in proper uniforms or if they attempted to surrender. Any commando or small group of commandos or a similar unit, agents, and saboteurs not in proper uniforms, who fell into the hands of the German military forces by some means other than direct combat (through the police in occupied territories, for instance) were to be handed over immediately to the Sicherheitsdienst(SD, Security Service). The order, which was issued in secret, made it clear that failure to carry out these orders by any commander or officer would be considered to be an act of negligence punishable under German military law.

Nacht und Nebel

Nacht und Nebel (German for "Night and Fog"– a direct reference to a "Tarnhelm" spell, from Wagner's Rheingold) was a directive (German: Erlass) of Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 that was originally intended to remove all political activists and resistance 'helpers', "anyone endangering German security" (die deutsche Sicherheit gefährden) throughout Nazi Germany's occupied territories. Two months later Armed Forces High Command Feldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel expanded it to include all persons in occupied countries who had been taken into custody and were still alive eight days later. The decree was meant to intimidate local populations into submission by denying friends and families of the missing any knowledge of their whereabouts or their fate. The prisoners were secretly transported to Germany, apparently vanishing without a trace, but in fact incarcerated in concentration camps. See article Nacht und Nebeldecree of Hitler of 7 December 1941.

Adolf Hitler (PHOTO SOURCE: http://worldhdwallpaper.com/adolf-hitler-hd-wallpapers/adolf-hitler-quotes-images-hd/)
Nero Decree

The Nero Decree was issued by Adolf Hitler on March 19, 1945 ordering the destruction of German infrastructure to prevent their use by Allied forces as they penetrated deep within Germany. It was officially titled Demolitions on Reich Territory Decree (Befehl betreffend Zerstörungsmaßnahmen im Reichsgebiet) and has subsequently become known as the Nero Decree, after the Roman Emperor Nero, who supposedly engineered the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. It was counter-manded by among others, Albert Speer, who wanted to preserve as much as possible for Germany following her defeat in 1945.

EASTER PRAYER FOR LIFE [PRO LIFE QUOTE ~ APRIL 20, 2014]

0
0




This prayer, to be recited during the Easterseason, was written by Priests for Life, one of the chief Catholic pro-life organizations.

Easter Prayer for Life
Lord Jesus, In rising from the dead,
You have conquered the entire kingdom of death.
Make me a voice for life,
Especially for children threatened by abortion.
Fill me with Easter joy,
For you live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.

AUTHOR:Priests for Life(PFL) is a Roman Catholic pro-life organization based in New York. It functions as a network to promote and coordinate pro-life activism with the primary strategic goal of ending abortion and euthanasia and to spread the Gospel of Life according to the encyclical of the same name written by Pope John Paul II. http://www.priestsforlife.org/


THE COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL MASSACRE (APRIL 20, 1999)

0
0


            The Columbine High School Massacre occurred on April 20, 1999. I will post the information from Wikipedia

The Columbine High School massacre was a school shooting which occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County in the State of Colorado. In addition to shootings, the complex and highly planned attack involved a fire bomb to divert firefighters, propane tanks converted to bombs placed in the cafeteria, 99 explosive devices, and bombs rigged in cars. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered a total of 12 students and one teacher. They injured 24 additional students, with three other people being injured while attempting to escape the school. The pair then committed suicide.

Although their motives remain unclear, the personal journals of the perpetrators document that they wished their actions to rival the Oklahoma City bombing. The attack has been referred to by USA Today as a "suicidal attack [which was] planned as a grand – if badly implemented – terrorist bombing." The Columbine High School massacre is the deadliest mass murder committed on an American high school campus. Highly influential, it is noted as one of the first and most serious of a series of high profile spree shootings which have since occurred.

The massacre sparked debate over gun control laws, the availability of firearms within the United States and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, in addition to the influence of violent movies and video games in American society. The shooting resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at goth culture, social outcasts, gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, teenage Internet use and violent video games.

DR. JAMES DOBSON ON PRO-LIFE [PRO LIFE QUOTE ~ APRIL 21, 2014]

0
0


 

James Dobson
QUOTE:Into that world comes a young William Wilberforce — a young Parliamentarian — who saw this and said this is evil, this is wrong, I will do what I can to fight it. In some ways, it's very similar to our situation here with regard to abortion because that's a multi-million dollar industry. You know the money that even our own Congress gives to Planned Parenthood is reminiscent of the evil that was expressed in that day because other Parliament members didn't want to touch that very lucrative business. And so here you've got Wilberforce standing up and saying "this is wrong" and he was vilified and attacked and discredited and marginalized. It sounds kind of familiar to what happens to pro-life people today.["William Wilberforce’s Courageous Stand for Life", Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson: 11:09, 28 February 2011, retrieved on 2011-08-06]

AUTHOR: James Dobson A.K.A James Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. (born April 21, 1936) is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family (FOTF), which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesmen for conservative social positions in American public life. Although never an ordained minister, he was called "the nation's most influential evangelical leader" by Time while Slateportrayed him as a successor to evangelical leaders Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson. He is no longer affiliated with Focus on the Family. Dobson founded Family Talk as a non-profit organization in 2010 and launched a new radio broadcast, "Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson", that began May 3, 2010 on over 300 stations nationwide. As part of his former role in the organization, he produced Focus on the Family, a daily radio program which according to the organization was broadcast in more than a dozen languages and on over 7,000 stations worldwide, and reportedly heard daily by more than 220 million people in 164 countries. Focus on the Family was also carried by about sixty U.S. television stations daily. He founded the Family Research Council in 1981.

JACK NICHOLSON ON PRO-LIFE [PRO LIFE QUOTE ~ APRIL 22, 2014]

0
0


 

Jack Nicholson
QUOTE: I’m very contra my constituency in terms of abortion because I’m positively against it. I don’t have the right to any other view. My only emotion is gratitude, literally, for my life.

AUTHOR: Jack Nicholson A.K.A John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American actor, film director, producer, and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. His twelve Oscar nominations make him the second most nominated actor of all time, behind only Meryl Streep, and tied with Katharine Hepburn.

Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and for As Good as It Gets. He also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1983 film Terms of Endearment. He is tied with Walter Brennan for most acting wins by a male actor (three). Nicholson is well known for playing villainous roles such as Jack Torrance in The Shining, Frank Costello in The Departed, and the Joker in 1989's Batman, among many other roles.

Nicholson is one of only two actors who have been nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s; the other is Michael Caine. He has won seven Golden Globe Awards, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2001. In 1994, he became one of the youngest actors to be awarded the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. Notable films in which he has starred include Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Passenger, The Shining, Reds, Terms of Endearment, Batman, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, About Schmidt, Anger Management, and The Departed.

SGT. BOSTON CORBETT [SOLDIERS’ QUOTE ~ APRIL 26, 2013]

0
0


 
Boston Corbett


"The rebel is dead. The patriot lives."
- Boston Corbett


AUTHOR: Thomas P. "Boston" Corbett (1832 – presumed dead 1894) was an American Union Army soldier who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. He disappeared after 1888, but circumstantial evidence suggests that he died in the Great Hinckley Fire in 1894, although this remains impossible to substantiate.

Il Duce: BENITO MUSSOLINI (29 JULY 1883 TO 28 APRIL 1945)

0
0


            On this date, 28 April 1945, Il Duce A.K.A Benito Mussolini was assassinated by Italian Partisans. I will post the information about him from Wikipedia

Benito Mussolini

Head of Government of Italy and
Duce of Fascism
In office
24 December 1925 – 25 July 1943
Monarch
Victor Emmanuel III
Preceded by
Office created
Succeeded by
Office abolished
27th Prime Minister of Italy
In office
31 October 1922 – 25 July 1943
Monarch
Victor Emmanuel III
Preceded by
Luigi Facta
Succeeded by
Pietro Badoglio
Duce of the Italian Social Republic
In office
23 September 1943 – 25 April 1945
Preceded by
Office created
Succeeded by
Office abolished
First Marshal of the Empire
In office
30 March 1938 – 25 July 1943
Preceded by
Office created
Succeeded by
Office abolished
Personal details
Born
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini
29 July 1883
Predappio, Forlì
Kingdom of Italy
Died
28 April 1945 (aged 61)
Giulino di Mezzegra, Como
Kingdom of Italy
Resting place
San Cassiano cemetery, Predappio, Forlì, Italian Republic
Nationality
Italian
Political party
National Fascist Party
(1921–1943)
Other political
affiliations
Republican Fascist Party
(1943–1945)
Italian Fasci of Combat
(1919–1921)
Fasci of Revolutionary Action
(1914–1919)
Autonomous Fasci of Revolutionary Action
(1914)
Italian Socialist Party
(1901–1914)
Spouse(s)
Relations
Children
Profession
Dictator, politician, journalist, novelist, teacher
Religion
None (atheist)
(See this section for details.)


Military service
Allegiance
Kingdom of Italy
Italian Social Republic
Service/branch
Royal Italian Army
Years of service
active: 1915–1917
Rank
First Marshal of the Empire
Corporal
Unit
11th Bersaglieri Regiment
Battles/wars
World War I
World War II

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (Italian pronunciation: [beˈnito musoˈlini]; 29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 until his ousting in 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy and set up a legal dictatorship. Known as Il Duce ("the leader"), Mussolini was one of the key figures in the creation of fascism. 

Originally a member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), Mussolini was expelled from the PSI due to his opposition to the party's stance on neutrality in World War I. Mussolini denounced the PSI, and later founded the fascist movement. Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the youngest Prime Minister in Italian history until the appointment of Matteo Renzi on February 2014. After destroying all political opposition through his secret police and outlawing labor strikes, Mussolini and his fascist followers consolidated their power through a series of laws that transformed the nation into a one-party dictatorship. Within five years he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. Mussolini remained in power until he was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1943. A few months later, he became the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German client regime in northern Italy; he held this post until his death in 1945. 

Since 1939, Mussolini had sought to delay a major war in Europe until at least 1942. Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, starting World War II. On 10 June 1940, Mussolini sided with Germany, though he was aware that Italy did not have the military capacity in 1940 to carry out a long war with France and the United Kingdom. Mussolini believed that after the imminent French surrender, Italy could gain territorial concessions from France and then he could concentrate his forces on a major offensive in Egypt, where British and Commonwealth forces were outnumbered by Italian forces. However the UK refused to accept German proposals for a peace that would involve accepting Germany's victories in Eastern and Western Europe, plans for a German invasion of the UK did not proceed, and the war continued.

On 24 July 1943, soon after the start of the Allied invasion of Italy, Mussolini was defeated in the vote at the Grand Council of Fascism, and the King had him arrested the following day. On 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north, only to be quickly captured and summarily executed near Lake Como by Italian partisans. His body was then taken to Milan where it was hung upside down at a service station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise.

 

Mussolini (left) and Hitler (right) - On 25 October 1936, an Axis was declared between Italy and Germany.


From left to right, Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini and Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano as they prepare to sign the Munich Agreement. (29 September 1938)



American wartime comic advertising the government sale of low-return War Bonds by showing Mussolini, Hitler and Hirohito beaten by superheroes.
OTHER LINKS:

HEINRICH MULLER A.K.A GESTAPO MULLER (28 APRIL 1900 TO MAY 1945)

0
0



Heinrich Müller
Nickname(s)
"Gestapo Müller"
Born
28 April 1900
Munich
Died
May 1945 (assumed)
Berlin (assumed)
Allegiance
Nazi Germany
Service/branch
Munich Police 1919–1933
Gestapo 1933–1945
Years of service
1933–1945
Rank
SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei
Commands held
Chief of the Gestapo 1939–1945
Battles/wars
World War I
World War II
Awards
Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords
War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords
War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords
Iron Cross 1st Class with 1939 Clasp
Iron Cross 2nd Class with 1939 Clasp
Bavarian Military Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords
Golden Party Badge
Sudetenland Medal
Anschluss Medal
Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918

Heinrich Müller(born 28 April 1900; date of death unknown, but evidence points to May 1945) was a German police official under both the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. He became chief of the Gestapo, the political secret state police of Nazi Germany, and was involved in the planning and execution of the Holocaust. He was known as "Gestapo Müller" to distinguish him from another SS general named Heinrich Müller. He was last seen in the Führerbunker in Berlin on 1 May 1945 and remains the most senior figure of the Nazi regime who was never captured or confirmed to have died.

Early career

Müller was born in Munich, Bavaria, the son of working class Catholic parents. After service in the last year of World War I as a pilot for an artillery spotting unit, during which he was decorated several times for bravery (including the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class, Bavarian Military Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords and Bavarian Pilots Badge), he joined the Bavarian Police in 1919. Although not a member of the Freikorps, he was involved in the suppression of the communist risings in the early post-war years. After witnessing the shooting of hostages by the revolutionary "Red Army" in Munich during the Bavarian Soviet Republic, he acquired a lifelong hatred of communism. During the years of the Weimar Republic he was head of the Munich Political Police Department, and became acquainted with many members of the Nazi Party including Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, although Müller in the Weimar period was generally seen as a supporter of the Bavarian People's Party (which at that time ruled Bavaria). On 9 March 1933, during the Nazi putschthat deposed the Bavarian government of Minister-President Heinrich Held, Müller had advocated to his superiors using force against the Nazis. Ironically, these views aided Müller's rise as it guaranteed the hostility of the Nazis, thereby making Müller very dependent upon the patronage of Reinhard Heydrich, who in turn appreciated Müller's professionalism and skill as a policeman, and was aware of Müller's past, making Müller rely upon Heydrich's protection.

Historian Richard J. Evans wrote: "Müller was a stickler for duty and discipline, and approached the tasks he was set as if they were military commands. A true workaholic who never took a holiday, Müller was determined to serve the German state, irrespective of what political form it took, and believed that it was everyone's duty, including his own, to obey its dictates without question." Evans also records that Müller was a regime functionary out of ambition, not out of a belief in National Socialism:


An internal [Nazi] Party memorandum ... could not understand how "so odious an opponent of the movement" could become head of the Gestapo, especially since he had once referred to Hitler as "an immigrant unemployed house painter" and "an Austrian draft-dodger."


On 4 January 1937, an evaluation by the Nazi Party's Deputy Gauleiter of Munich-Upper Bavaria stated:


"Criminal Police Chief Inspector Heinrich Müller is not a Party member. He has also never actively worked within the Party or in one of its ancillary organisations. He was presented with an SS-Obersturmbannführer's uniform in honour of his employment in the Secret State Police; at the same time, he was permitted to wear the stripe (the sign of membership prior to the National Uprising).

Before the seizure of power Müller was employed in the political department of the Police Headquarters. He did his duty both under the direction of the notorious Police President Koch [Julius Koch, the Munich Police President 1929–33], and under Nortz and Mantel. His sphere of activity was to supervise and deal with the left-wing movement. It must be admitted that he fought against it very hard, sometimes in fact ignoring legal provisions and regulations in the process. But it is equally clear that, if it had been his task to do so, Müller would have acted against the Right in just the same way. With his enormous ambition and his marked 'pushiness' he would win the approval of his superiors under the System [the Nazi name for the Weimar Republic] doing that too. In terms of his political opinions he belonged to the Nationalist camp and his standpoint varied between the German National People's Party and the Bavarian People's Party. But he was by no means a National Socialist.

As far as his qualities of character are concerned, these are regarded in an even poorer light than his political ones. He is ruthless, uses his elbows, and continually tries to demonstrate his efficiency, but claims all the glory for himself.

In his choice of officials for the Bavarian Political Police he was very concerned to propose either officials who were more junior than himself or only those who were inferior in ability to himself. In this way he could keep rivals at bay. In his choice of officials he did not take account of political considerations, he only had his own egoistical aims in mind ...

The Gau leadership of Munich-Upper Bavaria cannot, therefore, recommend accelerated promotion for Müller because he has rendered no services to the National Uprising."


Himmler's biographer Peter Padfield wrote: "He [Müller] was an archetypal middle rank official: of limited imagination, non-political, non-ideological, his only fanaticism lay in an inner drive to perfection in his profession and in his duty to the state—which in his mind were one ... A smallish man with piercing eyes and thin lips, he was an able organiser, utterly ruthless, a man who lived for his work." Müller became a member of the Nazi Party in 1939 for the purely opportunist reason of improving his chances of promotion and only after Himmler insisted he do it.

Gestapo chief

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Reinhard Heydrich as head of the Security Service (SD) recruited Müller, Franz Josef Huber and Josef Albert Meisinger referred to as the "Bajuwaren-Brigade" (Bavarian Brigade). Müller joined the SS in 1934. By 1936, with Heydrich head of the Gestapo, Müller was its operations chief. Müller continued to rise quickly through the ranks of the SS: in October 1939 he became an SS-Oberführer, in November 1941 - Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the police. In September 1939, when the Gestapo and other police organizations were consolidated under Heydrich into the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA), Müller was chief of the RSHA "Amt IV" (Office or Dept. 4): Gestapo. To distinguish him from another SS general named Heinrich Müller (a very common German name), he became known as "Gestapo Müller".

As Gestapo chief of operations and later (after 1939) its chief, Müller played a leading role in the detection and suppression of all forms of resistance to the Nazi regime. Under his leadership, the Gestapo succeeded in infiltrating and to a large extent destroying the underground networks of the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party by the end of 1935. He was also involved in the regime's policy towards the Jews, although Heinrich Himmler and Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels drove this area of policy. Adolf Eichmann headed the Gestapo's Office of Resettlement and then its Office of Jewish Affairs (the Amt IV section called Referat IV B4). He was Müller's subordinate. Reinhard Heydrich was Müller's direct superior until his assassination in 1942. For the remainder of the war, Ernst Kaltenbrunner took over as Müller's superior.

During World War II, Müller was heavily involved in espionage and counter-espionage, particularly since the Nazi regime increasingly distrusted the military intelligence service—the Abwehr—which under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris was a hotbed of activity for the German Resistance. In 1942 he successfully infiltrated the "Red Orchestra" network of Soviet spies and used it to feed false information to the Soviet intelligence services.

Müller occupied a position in the Nazi hierarchy between Himmler, the overall head of the Nazi police apparatus and the chief architect of the plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe, and Eichmann, the man entrusted with arranging the deportations of Jews to the eastern ghettoes and death camps. Thus, although his chief responsibility was always police work within Germany, he was fully in charge and thus responsible to execute the extermination of the Jews of Europe. During 1941 he dispatched Eichmann on tours of inspection of the occupied Soviet Union, and received detailed reports on the work of the Einsatzgruppen, who killed an estimated 1.4 million Jews in 12 months. In January 1942 he attended the Wannsee Conferenceat which Heydrich briefed senior officials from a number of government departments of the plan, and at which Eichmann took the minutes.

In May 1942 Heydrich was killed in Prague by Czech soldiers sent from London. Müller was sent to Prague to head the investigation into Operation "Anthropoid". He succeeded through a combination of bribery and torture in locating the assassins, who killed themselves to avoid capture. Despite this success, his influence within the regime declined somewhat with the loss of his original patron, Heydrich. During 1943 he had differences with Himmler over what to do with the growing evidence of a resistance network within the German state apparatus, particularly the Abwehr and the Foreign Office. In February 1943 he presented Himmler with firm evidence that Wilhelm Canaris was involved with the resistance; however, Himmler told him to drop the case. Offended by this, Müller became an ally of Martin Bormann, the head of the Nazi Party Chancellery, who was Himmler's main rival.

After the assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944, Müller was placed in charge of the arrest and interrogation of all those suspected of involvement in the resistance. Over 5,000 people were arrested and about 200 executed, including Canaris. In the last months of the war Müller remained at his post, apparently still confident of a German victory — he told one of his officers in December 1944 that the Ardennes offensive would result in the recapture of Paris. In April 1945 he was among the last group of Nazi loyalists assembled in the Führerbunker in central Berlin as the Red Army fought its way into the city. One of his last tasks was the sharp interrogation of Hermann Fegelein in the cellar of the Church of the Trinity. Fegelein was Himmler's liaison officer to Hitler and was shot after Hitler had Himmler expelled from his posts for negotiating with the western allies behind Hitler's back. Hitler then committed suicide on 30 April 1945. On 2 May 1945, the commander of the Berlin Defence Area, General Helmuth Weidling, surrendered to the Red Army.

After the war, a dictated order by Müller dated 20 April 1945 was discovered. It set out Müller's plan for Hitler's transportation to Barcelona, Spain. Hitler was to have been flown there by Georg Betz in a Ju 290 long-range aircraft. However, due to the insistence of Hitler to remain in Berlin, these plans came to nothing.

Disappearance

Müller was last seen in the bunker on the evening of 1 May 1945, the day after Hitler's suicide. Hans Baur, Hitler's pilot, later quoted Müller as saying, "We know the Russian methods exactly. I haven't the faintest intention of being taken prisoner by the Russians." From that day onwards, no trace of him has ever been found. He is the most senior member of the Nazi regime whose fate remains a mystery. Possible explanations for his disappearance include:
  • That he was killed or committed suicide, during the chaos of the fall of Berlin, and his body was not found.
  • That he escaped from Berlin and made his way to a safe location, possibly in South America, where he lived the rest of his life undetected, and that his identity was not disclosed even after his death.
  • That he was recruited and given a new identity by either the United States or the Soviet Union, and employed by them during the Cold War, and that this has never been disclosed.
The Central Intelligence Agency's file on Müller was released under the Freedom of Information Act in 2001, and documents several unsuccessful attempts by U.S. agencies to find Müller. The U.S. National Archives commentary on the file concludes: "Though inconclusive on Müller's ultimate fate, the file is very clear on one point. The Central Intelligence Agency and its predecessors did not know Müller's whereabouts at any point after the war. In other words, the CIA was never in contact with Müller."

The CIA file shows that an extensive search was made for Müller, among many other wanted Nazi officials, in the months after the German surrender. The search was led by the counterespionage branch of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of the CIA). The search was complicated by the fact that "Heinrich Müller" is a very common German name. (It translates as "Henry Miller".) The U.S. National Archives comment: "By the end of 1945, American and British occupation forces had gathered information on numerous Heinrich Müllers, all of whom had different birth dates, physical characteristics and job histories ... Part of the problem stemmed from the fact that some of these Müllers, including Gestapo Müller, did not appear to have middle names. An additional source of confusion was that there were two different SS generals named Heinrich Müller."

The U.S. was still looking for Müller in 1947, when agents searched the home of his wartime mistress Anna Schmid, but found nothing suggesting that he was still alive. With the onset of the Cold War and the shift of priorities to meeting the challenge of the Soviet Union, interest in pursuing missing Nazis declined. By this time the conclusion seems to have been reached that Müller was most likely dead. The Royal Air Force Special Investigation Branch also had an interest in Müller with regards to the Stalag Luft III murders, for which he was presumed to have responsibility given his position in the Gestapo.

The seizure in 1960 and subsequent trial in Israel of Adolf Eichmann sparked new interest in Müller's whereabouts. Although Eichmann revealed no specific information, he told his Israeli interrogators that he believed that Müller was still alive. This prompted the West German office in charge of the prosecution of war criminals to launch a new investigation. The West Germans investigated the possibility that Müller was working for the Soviet Union, but gained no definite information. They placed his family and his former secretary under surveillance in case he was corresponding with them.

In 1967 in Panama City, Francis Willard Keith was accused of being Müller. West German diplomats pressed Panama to extradite him for trial. West German prosecutors said Sophie Müller, 64, had seen photos of Keith and identified him as her long-missing husband. However, Keith was released once fingerprints proved he was not Müller.

The West Germans investigated several reports of Müller's body being found and buried in the days after the fall of Berlin. None of the sources for these reports were wholly reliable; the reports were contradictory, and it was not possible to confirm any of them. The most interesting of these came from Walter Lüders, a former member of the Volkssturm, who said that he had been part of a burial unit which had found the body of an SS general in the garden of the Reich Chancellery, with the identity papers of Heinrich Müller. The body had been buried, Lüders said, in a mass grave at the old Jewish Cemetery on Grosse Hamburger Strasse in the Soviet Sector. Since this location was in East Berlin in 1961, this gravesite could not be investigated, nor has there been any attempt to excavate this gravesite since the reunification of Germany in 1990.

The CIA also conducted an investigation into Müller's disappearance in the 1960s, prompted by the defection to the West of Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Goleniewski, the Deputy Chief of Polish Military Counter Intelligence. Goleniewski had worked as an interrogator of captured German officials from 1948 to 1952. He did not claim to have met Müller, but said he had heard from his Soviet supervisors that sometime between 1950 and 1952 the Soviets had picked up Müller and taken him to Moscow. The CIA tried to track down the men Goleniewski named as having worked with Müller in Moscow, but were unable to confirm his story, which was in any case no more than hearsay. Israel also continued to pursue Müller: in 1967 two Israeli operatives were caught by West German police attempting to break into the Munich apartment of Müller's wife.

The CIA investigation concluded: "There is little room for doubt that the Soviet and Czechoslovak [intelligence] services circulated rumors to the effect that Müller had escaped to the West ... to offset the charges that the Soviets had sheltered the criminal ... There are strong indications but no proof that Müller collaborated with [the Soviets]. There are also strong indications but no proof that Müller died [in Berlin]." The CIA apparently remained convinced at that time that if Müller had survived the war, he was being harboured within the Soviet Union. But when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and the Soviet archives were opened, no evidence to support this contention emerged. By the 1990s it was in any case increasingly unlikely that Müller, who was born in 1900, was alive even if he had survived the war.

The U.S. National Archives commentary concludes: "More information about Müller's fate might still emerge from still secret files of the former Soviet Union. The CIA file, by itself, does not permit definitive conclusions. Taking into account the currently available records, the authors of this report conclude that Müller most likely died in Berlin in early May 1945."

In 2008, the German historian Peter Longerich published a biography of Heinrich Himmler, which appeared in English translation in 2012. Longerich asserts that Müller was with Himmler at Flensburg on 11 May, and accompanied Himmler and other SS officers in their unsuccessful attempt to escape capture by the Allies and reach Bavaria on foot. Longerich states that Himmler and Müller parted company at Meinstadt, after which Müller was not seen again. Longerich provides no source for this claim, which contradicts previous accounts of Müller's disappearance. The source for Longerich's account appears to be the interrogation of one of Himmler's adjutants, Werner Grothmann, the transcript of which contains references to "Müller."

Fictional portrayal
 

1939 photograph; shown from left to right are Franz Josef Huber, Arthur Nebe, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Müller. According to the archival caption, these men are planning the investigation of the bomb assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler of 8 November 1939 in Munich.

  • Soup is never eaten as hot as it is cooked.
    • Quoted in "The SS, Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945" - Page 33 - by Gerald Reitlinger - History - 1989
  • If we had fifty Eichmann's, we would have won the war.
    • About Adolf Eichmann's devotion. Quoted in "And the Crooked Shall be Made Straight" - Page 37 - by Jacob Robinson - Jews - 1965
  • We know the Russian methods exactly. I haven't the faintest intention of being taken prisoner by the Russians.
    • April 29, 1945. Quoted in "U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis" - Page 150 - by Richard Breitman, Norman J. W. Goda, Timothy Naftali, Robert Wolfe - History - 2005
  • You are a very interesting case, General. Do you know what fat file of evidence we have against you here?
    • To General Walter Dornberger, 1944. Quoted in "Gestapo: Instrument of Tyranny" - by Edward Crankshaw
  • You are in the hands of the Gestapo. Don't imagine that we shall show you the slightest consideration. The Fuhrer has already shown the world that he is invincible and soon he will come and liberate the people of England from the Jews and Plutocrats such as you. It is war and Germany is fighting for her existence. You are in the greatest danger and if you want to live another day must be very careful.
    • To Captain Best, quoted in "Heinrich Müller: Gestapo Chief" - Page 59 - by Mark Beyer - 2001
  • One should herd the entire intelligentsia into a mine and then blow it sky-high.
    • Quoted in The Third Reich: A New History (2001) - Page 191
OTHER LINKS:

HITLER’S LETTER AGREEMENT WITH THE DEVIL

0
0


“To attain our aim we should stop at nothing even if we must join forces with the devil.”
- Adolf Hitler


            On this date, 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building. 
           
            I will post a blog post from another Blogger, ‘Hitler's Letter Agreement With the Devil’, to speak of how Adolf Hitler could have seek help with Satan to achieve his cruelty in the world. 


Hitler, God, and the BibleHardcover by Ray Comfort [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.amazon.com/Hitler-God-Bible-Ray-Comfort/dp/1936488248]
Hitler's Letter Agreement With the Devil

Dr. Leiber Greta from Germany, a paranormal specialist demon hunter found a letter of agreement expected mysterious yet authentic.

In the former ruins of the building that used by Adolf Hitler's suicide, Dr. Greta found a Letter of Agreement which allegedly was among Hitler's Testament with Satan.

The letter agreement dated 30 April 1932. This letter was signed with the blood of both parties. In it, Satan is called Lucifer promised to give to Hitler unlimited power.

Sang Fuhrer will become absolute ruler of the entire country of Germany and parts of Europe, so it will be flattered and honored the millions of people. Although to get all of it must use the power of large-scale evil. In return Hitler gave his soul to the devil 13 years later.

In front of 11 people Dihadirkannya panelists in a symposium, Dr. Greta says that: "The Pact treaty truly authentic".

"What is written in it, fits well with the course of history and hundreds of cases that occurred during World War II took place" he added.

According to Drs. Greta, history has shown, that Hitler failed in his action before the year 1932. "He failed to complete high school. Also 2 times slumped in art school entrance exams. He became unemployed, and even once went to jail," said Dr.. Greta about some of Hitler's life journey.

After 1932, Hitler's life completely changed. People started listening to his remarks. Like a rocket, his career took off very quickly. Right in the month of January 1933 Hitler had become ruler of the German Kingdom.

And on April 30, 1945, exactly 13 years from the date of the agreement with the devil's pact was signed, Hitler's power collapsed.

Letter of agreement allegedly made ​​between Hitler and Lucifer was found in an iron chest , in the former building where Hitler is expected to commit suicide. Although the letter was slightly damaged but still legible. The letter agreement is now in the Berlin Institute of German History as research material.  

Adolf Hitler

Hitler and Stalin were possessed by the Devil, says Vatican exorcist
By NICK PISA
Last updated at 17:32 28 August 2006

Adolf Hitler and Russian leader Stalin were possessed by the Devil, the Vatican's chief exorcist has claimed.

Father Gabriele Amorth who is Pope Benedict XVI's 'caster out of demons' made his comments during an interview with Vatican Radio.

Father Amorth said: "Of course the Devil exists and he can not only possess a single person but also groups and entire populations.

"I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed. All you have to do is think about what Hitler - and Stalin did. Almost certainly they were possessed by the Devil.

"You can tell by their behaviour and their actions, from the horrors they committed and the atrocities that were committed on their orders. That's why we need to defend society from demons."

According to secret Vatican documents recently released wartime pontiff Pope Pius XII attempted a "long distance" exorcism of Hitler which failed to have any effect.

Father Amorth said: "It's very rare that praying and attempting to carry out an exorcism from distance works.

"Of course you can pray for someone from a distance but in this case it would not have any effect.

"One of the key requirements for an exorcism is to be present in front of the possessed person and that person also has to be consenting and willing.

"Therefore trying to carry out an exorcism on someone who is not present, or consenting and willing would prove very difficult.

"However I have no doubt that Hitler was possessed and so it does not surprise me that Pope Pius XII tried a long distance exorcism."

In the past Father Amorth has also spoken out against the Harry Potter books, claiming that reading the novels of the teen wizard open children's minds to dabbling with the occult and black magic.

Father Amorth, who is president of the International Association of Exorcists, said of the JK Rowling books:"Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil."

He said that Rowling's books contain innumerable positive references to magic, "the satanic art" and added the books attempt to make a false distinction between black and white magic, when in fact, the distinction "does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil."

Father Amorth is said to have carried out more than 30,000 exorcisms in his career and his favourite film is, according to Italian newspapers The Exorcist.

A headline in the U.S. Army newspaper Stars and Stripes announcing Hitler's death.

THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS PRINCIPLE: HITLER VS. STALIN

0
0


On this date, 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building. 

I will post an article on the lesser of two evils principle from Wikipedia, in order to compare Adolf Hitler with Joseph Stalin.
     

Joseph Stalin (left) & Adolf Hitler (right) [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.examiner.com/article/was-atheism-responsible-for-nazism-and-communism]
The lesser of two evils principle (or lesser evil principle) is the principle that when given two bad choices, the one which is not as bad as the other should be chosen over the one that is the greater threat.


In politics

In the Cold War-era "lesser evil" pragmatic foreign policy principle used by the United States and, to a lesser extent, several other countries. The principle dealt with the United States of America's attitude regarding how dictators of Third World nations ought to be handled, and was closely related to the Kirkpatrick Doctrine of Jeane Kirkpatrick. By contrast, the lesser of two evils principle is today most commonly used in reference to electoral politics, particularly in Western nations, and perhaps in the United States more than anywhere else. When popular opinion in the United States is confronted with what is often seen as two main candidates—normally Democratic and Republican in the modern era—that are substantially similar ideologically, politically, and/or in their economic programmes, a voter is often advised to choose the "lesser of two evils" to avoid having the supposedly "greater evil" get into office and wreak more havoc on society.


 

The picture shows Hitler and Stalin and how they are drinking and cheering and acting all happy together, being the fact that it might have happened after Hitler and Stalin signed the Molotov Ribbentrop Europe treaty. [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/history/genocide/genocide_bloodlands_carolynb.html]
In warfare and conflict

An early example of the lesser of two evils principle in politics was the slogan "Better the turban than the mitre", used by Orthodox Christiansin the Balkans during the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Conquest by Western Roman Catholic powers (the mitre) would likely mean forcible conversion to the Catholic faith, while conquest by the Muslim Ottoman Empire (the turban) would mean second-class citizenship but would at least allow Orthodox Christians to retain their current religion. In a similar manner, the ProtestantDutch resistance against Spanish rule in the 16th century used the slogan Liever Turks dan Paaps (better a Turk than a Papist).

The Government of the United States had long stated that democracy was one of the cornerstones of U.S. society, and therefore that support for democracy should also be reflected in U.S. foreign policy. But following the Second World War, dictatorships of various types continued to hold power over many of the world's most strategically and economically important regions. Many of these dictatorships were pro-capitalist, consistent with at least some U.S. ideological goals; thus the United States would form alliances with certain dictators, believing them to be the closest thing their respective nations had to a legitimate government—and in any case much better than the alternative of a communist revolution in those nations. This struggle posed a question: if the end result was, in any realistic case, destined to be a dictatorship, should the US not try to align itself with the dictator who will best serve American interests and oppose the Soviets? This is what became known as the "lesser of two evils" princile.

Earlier, during World War II, the Western Allies justified their support for Joseph Stalin under a lesser of two evils principle. Justifying the act, Winston Churchill said, "If Hitler were to invade Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons." Meanwhile, self-declared socialist movements had their own versions of "lesser of two evils" policies such as justifying their Popular Front Against Fascism by arguing that allying with capitalist powers to overthrow fascism would be better than having the latter successfully occupy the world and permanently consolidate power. From the communist view, the primary scourge of the planet at that point was fascism, and that under the circumstances, fascism had to be defeated first and communist revolution could come after that.

Some time later, the decision of the leadership of the People's Republic of China to seek rapprochement with the United States in the 1970s was an especially interesting application of the "lesser of two evils doctrine", since the United States ended up being deemed a lesser threat by the Maoists than was the Soviet Union. Mao Zedong argued at that time that it would be impossible to continue to deal with the turmoil of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the after-effects of the Sino-Soviet Split, and a hostile stance towards the United States and its "imperialist aggression" all at the same time. These measures of rapprochement later expanded into full-blown cooperation between the United States and China, and the introduction of Chinese economic reform and Socialism with Chinese characteristics that decisively introduced many elements of capitalism into the Chinese political system. But at its origin, the act was meant as an ostensibly temporary tactic by which Mao's China hoped to gain a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, with the United States thus being viewed as the "lesser of two evils".

Conflicts over the nature of various dictatorial regimes began to intensify when the Soviet Union, Cuba, and the People's Republic of China began to support communist revolutions and populistguerrilla warfare against established regimes in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. In many cases these movements succeeded (see Vietnam War for one of the major examples) and replaced an American-allied right-wing dictator with a leftist communist leader; to counter the trend, particularly in Latin and South America, the United States would often use its intelligence services to help orchestrate coups that would overthrow those regimes and reverse the leftist and/or communist trend (see Operation Condor and 1973 Chilean coup d'état).

In Iraq, the United States supervised Saddam Hussein's rise to power to counter the threatening growth and influence of the Iraqi Communist Party, which by the late 1950s was on the verge of taking state power. In 1963, the Kennedy administration backed a coupagainst Abdul-Karim Qassemwho had deposed the Western-allied Iraqi monarchy, and then the Central Intelligence Agency both covertly and overtly helped the new Ba'ath Party government of Abdul Salam Arif in ridding the country of suspected leftists and communists. Though many in the US Government at that time recognized Saddam as a dictator or a potential dictator, they viewed him as the "lesser evil" when compared with the damage the Iraqi Communist Party might do with its planned nationalization measures and other reform programs that would probably have run counter to U.S. interests. Similarly, in 1991, when Shi'a across Iraq revolted against Hussein's regime (partially in response to the televised rallying call to do so by U.S. President George H. W. Bush), the U.S. justification for ultimately staying out of the revolt and allowing Hussein's security forces to suppress the rebels was that the U.S. had strategically decided Hussein's rule was better than the risk of a mujahideen- or Iranian Revolution-style takeover.

Probably the best example of this principle in action, however, was the political struggle behind the Vietnam War. Ngo Dinh Diem was the ruler of South Vietnam during the initial stages of the war, and though his regime was brutal and he was dictatorial, he was also an anti-communist who was determined to fight the expansion of the North—something that the United States government found sufficiently attractive and ultimately supported him. Ho Chi Minh ruled North Vietnam, was backed by the Soviets, and was a Marxist who wanted to see a united, Communist Vietnam. The United States thus supported Diem's regime, as well as his successor's, during the war and believed that he was the "lesser of two evils". Diem was later assassinated, and the United States oversaw a new South Vietnamese administration that was relatively less repressive.

Hitler and Stalin goes for a walk [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.moir.com.au/David%20Low.htm]
In elections

The lesser of two evils is also referred to as a "necessary evil". In 2012, Huffington Post columnist Sanford Jay Rosen argued that the idea became a common practice for left-leaning voters in the United States due to their overwhelming disapproval of the US government's support for the Vietnam War. Rosen stated that: "Beginning with the 1968 presidential election, I often have heard from liberals that they could not vote for the lesser of two evils. Some said they would not vote; some said they would vote for a third party candidate. That mantra delivered us to Richard Nixon in 1972 until Watergate did him in. And it delivered us to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in 2000 until they were termed out in 2009." Opponents of the modern usage of these terms in reference to electoral politicsinclude revolutionarieswho oppose the existing system as a whole, as well as political moderates who advocate that third partiesbe given greater exposure in that system. For a particular voter in an election with more than two candidates, if the voter believes the most preferred candidate cannot win, the voter may be tempted to vote for the most favored viable candidate as a necessary evil or the lesser of two evils.

Supporters of lesser-evil tactics in the United States often cite United States politician Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns as examples of what can happen when a third-party candidate receives a significant number of votes. They claim that the mere existence of the third-party candidate essentially steals votes ("tilts" or "tips the scales") from the more progressive of the two main candidates and puts the election in favor of the "worse" candidate—because the small percentage that goes towards the third party candidate is a part "wasted" that could have instead gone to the lesser-evil candidate. For example, in 2000as the United States Green Party candidate, Nader garnered 2.7% of the popular vote and, as a result, is considered by many U.S. Democrats to have tipped the election to George W. Bush. One counterargument is that Nader's candidacy likely increased turnout among liberals and that Al Gore took four of the five states—and thirty of the fifty-five electoral college votes—in which the outcome was decided by less than one percent of the vote.

In elections between only two candidates where one is mildly unpopular and the other immensely unpopular, opponents of both candidates frequently advocate a vote for the mildly unpopular candidate. For example, in the second round of the 2002 French presidential election, graffiti in Paris told people to "vote for the crook, not the fascist". The "crook" in those scribbled public messages was Jacques Chirac of Rally for the Republic, and the "fascist" was Jean-Marie le Pen of the Front National. Jacques Chirac eventually won the second round having garnered 82% of the vote.


Adolf Hitler (left) & Joseph Stalin (right) [PHOTO SOURCE: http://latvianhistory.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/stalin-and-hitler/]
Game theory

In game theory this scenario is commonly known as the no-win situation, and as such refers to the necessarily unavoidable decision between one outcome or the other; as well as the losses of whatsoever value therein.



Viewing all 1603 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images